The New Half Demon In Town
by Ellanore Rising
Summary: A Half-Wolf-Demon girl comes downstairs to find her mother gone. She jumps through the well in her basement and finds Koga. As they come to know each other better, the girl's dark past becomes known. Also on my website: /animefanstories
1. The New Girl in the Feudal Era

* * * * *

Chapter One

* * * * *

Susan

* * * * *

"Mom?" I asked, walking into the kitchen. "Mom, are you okay? I thought I heard something crash."

My mom jumped at the sound of my voice.

"Susie!" She blurted. I cringed a bit at the name. My mother was the only one I would permit to call me Susie. Otherwise I was Suze, Susan, or Susie-Q to my closest friends. _Nobody_ called me Susie. But my mother had been calling me Susie all of my life. So I just endured it when she used the name. "Honey, I didn't think the glass smashed so loud. . . oh, right. Sorry, honey." she ended in a whisper. I wasn't sure if she was apologizing for calling me Susie, or for forgetting that I had super-human ears.

"it's okay, mom." I told her. I didn't want to upset her. She _was_ my mother, after all.

My mother gazed sadly at me.

"I do forget sometimes." She said quietly. "I guess it may just be that you're my only child. My only daughter. I forget that you're only half-human. I'm so sorry, honey."

I felt my eyes welling up with tears. I couldn't stand my mom saying that she was sorry for bringing me into the world.

"Mom, don't apologize." I muttered, finding myself staring at the broken dish just to avoid her tearful gaze. "It is _so_ not your fault. And to be perfectly honest, I could care less what I am." I was lying between my teeth. "I'm just glad to be alive. I've done some research. If I had been born even a couple of centuries ago, I most likely would have been killed. So please stop telling me that you're sorry."

_Please stop rubbing it into my face that I'm a half-Demon. _I thought silently. But just in my head.

She looked like she was going to cry.

"Right, well." I said to change the subject, "I'm going upstairs. I have some homework left to do. I just wanted to see if you were alright. Later, mom."

Back up in the sanctuary of my room, I stared into the mirror. I didn't really have any homework to do, I just wanted to get away from my mom.

I guess I'm pretty, but with my Demon features, I never thought of myself that way. I would spend hours in my bedroom, just staring into my mirror and wishing I was normal. But I'm not. My ears are pretty big, but they slope off toward the back of my head and are pointed. My eyes are big and have a nice shape, but are the craziest color ever. A light greenish-blue color that would look great in a coloring book but just look awkward and strange on my face. No matter how much I file my nails, they just grow out in a few hours to about an eighth of an inch long and to a pointed tip. I run faster than any full-blooded human could comprehend, and I defiantly have this weird thing for plants.

My nose, (Which, by the way, is the only part of my face that I could ever like) can pick up smells from a mile away, and my hearing is as good as a wolf's. I'm short, though thank God that I didn't get the usual side-affect of having a totally slow growth rate (most half-demons look like they age a year in about that time quadruped, some even ten years!).

But that's all because of the simple face that my father was a Wolf-Demon. I say was because he was killed a few years back when I was just a kid in

kindergarten. I don't remember him to well.

I sighed and leaned my head up against the back of the stuffed computer chair that I was sitting at. It was all so confusing. I should only look like I was six or seven, but I looked thirteen. I actually _was_ thirteen, and my normal aging rate shocked my mom. But like she said, I would probably slow down pretty soon. Slow down _a lot_. Like, my appearance changing every ten or twelve years. I hoped not. I wanted to live a normal span of years, but things weren't looking pretty good at the moment. I was only five foot two, but despite my size, I was in a "B" bra.

My tiny butt still in the computer chair, I rolled over to my bed and laid my torso down on the mattress. I was so tired. I hadn't slept that great in the last couple of days, and I really thought that I was going to pass out. I closed my eyes.

_Just for ten minutes._ I told myself. _Just ten minutes. Then wake up. Just ten minutes. . ._

* * * * *

Susan

* * * * *

I woke up hours later with the horrible feeling that I had overslept. My room was dark, and I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. My digital clock on my night stand read that it was around ten in the evening. I was coughing like I was having some athsma attack or something. It was like there was something caught up in my lungs and my body wanted it out, but I couldn't quite do it.

Then I caught the smell. Blood. _Human_ blood. I gasped. I knew that blood so well. How many times had I seen that human bleed? How many times had I smelt her blood?

I felt like I was going to puke, half from the coughing and half because my mother was hurt. And badly, too. The smell of her blood was all over downstairs. Still hacking, I made my way into the living room. As I descended the stairs, the smell grew stronger, and I really did vomit at the landing. The air was thick with some purple fog. It was clouding up my eyes and making it hard to see. It was as if I had cataracts or something.

"Mom?" I asked fearfully. I had seen enough horror movies to know that a strange fog inside and blood mixed together wasn't good at all.

All of a sudden, I heard a strangled cry coming from the living room. I _female's_ strangled cry. As if the woman was being choked to death. . .

"MOM!!" I shouted, running into the room to see. . . absolutely nothing. Nothing except for a very smelly man wrapped in a baboon costume.

"So." he said in a thick, gravely voice. "You would be her half-Demon spawn huh?"

"Bastard." I hissed, clenching up my fists. "I dare you to come and say that to my face! C'mon! Or are you too chicken to come any closer to me?!"

He just laughed at me.

"As appealing as it sounds to wipe out Taylor Thomas's disgusting half-breed daughter, I have to run. Maybe next time." and as he vanished into thin air.

"Mom?" I shouted, almost afraid that I would get an answer. But nothing. Just the eco of my own voice re-vibrating in the staircase.

I took a shuddering breath, and forced myself to look around the room. The only thing I found was my mother's favorite choker, made of some kind of twine and light blue stones and laying in a puddle of her blood. I gasped and gently picked it up. It had been a wedding present from my father. Mom would never loose it if she could help it!

_The basement._ A voice. . . my _mother's voice_ in my head told me. _Go and find the well in the basement and jump in._

"Great." I said shakily. "So now I've got schizophrenia?"

But nevertheless, I did go down into the basement. I looked around and saw with a slight start that there was a wooden cover off of a giant gaping hole in the floor.

"I must be insane. . ." I muttered, sitting on the edge and slowly lowering myself into it. There was a great purple flash of light, and I was at the bottom, finding my mouth full of some kind of sand.

And I didn't feel a thing. I was totally numb with the realization that I was alone. I didn't have anybody else. I was just doing what my mother had told me to do like I always had.

What I little girl I used to be.

I spat out the sand and climbed up. When I climbed out of the well, the first thing that I noticed was that it was outside. I recognized the smell almost instantly. The air was clear, and that horrible fog was gone. I could see again! But so was my mother. I almost couldn't see again. My vision was going all fuzzy, as though I was going blind again. Warm water gushed out of my eyes, and I crumpled from the sheer despair at the thought that I would never see my mom again. That I would never hear her laugh or feel the warmth of her arms. I started to regret every single argument I'd had with her. Why had I bothered to fight with her over the fact that she wouldn't let me get some top at J.? Why hadn't I apologized after I had cooled off? Why hadn't she told me about that well that somehow had taken me to another place, so far from my home?

I didn't know the answer to any of my endless questions, but I wished that I did. It would make things a hell of a lot simpler.

I smelled something so familiar. Disturbingly, hauntingly so. It was like my mother. . .

Slowly, I dared to look down at my hands. Blood. Dark, thick blood. My face paled. I hadn't even noticed that I was covered in my mom's blood until that moment. It must have been that puddle of blood!

"Oooh." I moaned, fighting the urge to hurl. It didn't work too well. I spewed up the contents of my stomach. It was disgusting, being covered in my mother's blood. . . smelling it. . . I felt my stomach churning again. Stumbling over to a river, I started to rub my hands under the rapid current.

"Oh, my God." I whispered, scrubbing even harder. "Oh, God! It's not coming off! Why won't it come off?! Oh, please just get off my hands!"

* * * * *

Koga

* * * * *

I could smell the blood from a mile away. And the disgusting scent of a half-Demon surrounding it. Honestly, didn't I have enough with Half-Demons with that InuYasha?! But this person didn't smell like InuYasha. No, she didn't smell like a mutt. It was more familiar.

"Wolf-Demon." I muttered in disgust. What Wolf-Demon in their right mind would mate with a human and not kill the child?! Having a human for a lover was one thing, but kids were another altogether.

"Koga!" Hakkaku gasped, running over to me. "Koga, what's wrong?"

"Yeah, Koga. What's up?" Ginta added, gasping and coming to a halt beside Hakkaku.

"Can't you two smell it?" I growled. "there's some Half-Wolf-Demon around here."

"What?" Ginta asked in shock.

"No way!" Hakkaku gasped.

"You gonna go check it out, Koga?" Ginta asked me.

"Obviously." I growled, taking off. "Catch up when you can!" I called over my shoulder to the other two.

As I got closer to that Half-Demon scent, I kept picturing another annoyance like InuYasha. Someone who was better off just dead.

When I finally found that Half-Demon, I was in shock. It wasn't a male. The sleeping figure in front of me was obviously a female. And she was young. She couldn't have been more than thirteen or fourteen. Unlike InuYasha, she didn't have fuzzy ears like I had expected. They were just a pointed and bigger than average. I had been expecting a guy in his mid-twenties with wolf ears and to be covered in human blood. This girl was small and almost vulnerable looking. Her hands were beat red, as though she had been scrubbing them in the nearby stream.

She was sound asleep on her side. Her legs were bent at the knees and her arms were being used as a pillow. Her hair had been pulled up, and her eyelids had this grey powder on them. She was clothed in some kind of silver trousers and a black shirt with the thinnest straps that I'd ever seen. A sweat jacket, as Kagome, the girl I loved, called it, lay in a ball under her head, and I could just make out a bunch of skulls. A rope choker with some kind of blue gems in it was fastened around her neck. Some blond streaks were in her dark brown, curly hair, and the small strands that had come free of the restraint were framing her face in a way that really made the sleeping girl look beautiful.

"Koga!" Hakkaku and Ginta shouted in unison, finally catching up with me.

"Whoa." Ginta said quietly, seeing the sleeping Half-Demon. "I was imagining a Wolf version of InuYasha, not some girl like this."

"Yeah." Hakkaku said, matching Ginta's tone. "She's so young." he added, kneeling down and covering the tips of her ears with his hands. "Huh. Take away the ears and scent and she might be human."

"And the claws." Ginta said. "Don't forget about her hands."

I hadn't even noticed her fingernails, but now that Ginta pointed it out, she _did_ have rather wolf-like hands.

The girl moaned in her sleep, rolling over onto her stomach.

"Stop touching her." I commanded, brushing Hakkaku's hand off of her head. "We don't know who she-"

"Mom. Oh, mom." the girl moaned, horror in her voice. "Mom, don't go. Mom! MOM!" she shouted, bolting out of her slumber and pushing herself up by her arms. She looked ridiculously like a seal.

"O-oh." she said in a soft voice, looking around at the three of us. I guess instinctively, she changed her position to kneeling onto her calves with her arms covering her chest that was almost revealed by the low neck of her shirt protectively. Her nose quivered, and she looked straight up at me, terror and shock beginning to build behind her eyes.

* * * * *

Susan

* * * * *

_"You'll have to be careful, Honey. Most demons won't accept a Half-Demon even if it's their own flesh and blood."_ My mother had once warned me. These words kept replaying themselves to me as I looked around in horror at the three Wolf-Demon and the pack of wolves that surrounded me in a circle.

_Even if it's their own flesh and blood. . ._

Sure I was half Wolf-Demon, and the guys surrounding me were Wolf-Demons, but that wasn't too reassuring. If anything, it would mean that they would want to kill me even more. My arms were around my breast. To be honest, my cami couldn't really be classified as skanky, but since my boobs were big, I was careful about how much cleavage I showed. The cami gave away a little more than I allowed, strictly speaking. I guess it's a little stupid to be worrying about your modesty when you're surrounded my Wolf-Demon who would probably kill you without an after thought, but I was still a little asleep. Slowly, I reached over and grabbed onto my sweat-jacket and pulled it on. I zipped it up to a couple inches below the neckline of the cami. None of the Wolf-Demons made a move to stop me. I took this as a good sigh.

"Um, hi?" I said uncertainly as I pulled my arms into the sleeves.

"Who are you?" The guy with the black pony-tail asked in a pretty rough voice.

"My name's Susan." I said, nervously climbing to my feet. Since nothing took a shot at my neck, I decided to keep him talking. "Who're you?"

"I'm Koga, the leader of the Demon-Wolf Tribe." He told me. "The one with the white hair is Hakkaku and Ginta is the other."

"Hello," I said in a mix of nerves and shyness. I bit my lip and crossed my arms tightly around my stomach. My throat was dry, and if my teeth closed any tighter on my lip it was going to break the skin.

"Well," I added when they didn't say anything. "I'm. . . going away now. Uh, bye."

I squeezed my way past a few wolves and quickly walked away.

About an hour later, I happened to gaze up at the sky.

"oh, dammit." I whispered upon seeing the moon. It was one week away from being half-way through the waning process. I was going to become a full human in a week. I hate becoming a human. As much as I despise my Half-Demon form, I utterly hate the weak feeling of being a human. I have to hide myself so nobody sees me. I wouldn't be able to bear it if anybody saw me as a human. My hair turns blond and my eyes go a light blue like my mom's. My claws utterly vanish, and my sense of smell and hearing go down so much it's not even funny. I can barely run, too. The only part I like is that my ears shrink down to a normal size.

All of a sudden, I heard a light growl and a cheerful barking from behind me. I spun around, almost passing out because I was so happy. But it couldn't be. . . A little wolf cub came running up and jumped up into my arms.

"Ruby!" I cried out tearfully, embracing my little pet wolf. "Oh, Ruby! It really is you!"

"Of course it's me!" Ruby exclaimed in the Wolf Language that I somehow understood perfectly. "Who'd you think it would be?"

"I don't know." I murmured, stroking the wolf behind her ears. "This place is just so confusing, Ruby. I thought I was going to die just now, but I didn't. I have no idea where I am, either."

"Susan, how's your mom?" Ruby asked me urgently. "I saw that man before she threw me down that well, but I don't know what happened next. Is she okay?" My eyes filled up with another kind of tears.

"Ruby," I whispered. "My mom is. . . well, Ruby, she's. . . I don't know. I couldn't find her." I tried to hide the sadness in my voice, but Ruby knew. I'd had her for months. She knew what I was feeling. And she could feel this deep despair that I felt from the bottom of my heart. She knew what I would have said if I wasn't in the state I was in.

"Oh, Susan." she said quietly. "I'm so sorry."

It was only then that I realized the smell of wolves were following me.

* * * * *

Susan

* * * * *

"W-Who's there?" I stammered, fear punctuating my voice.

"It's just me." Ginta said, walking out of the wooded area.

"Oh." I sighed. This Ginta didn't look all to menacing. "You again. What's up?"

Ginta shrugged.

"Nothing much. Koga just asked me to follow. . . damn me and my big mouth!"

I laughed.

"So Koga asked you to stalk me? Well, ya' can't stalk me too good when I know that you're following me around, can you?" he looked really upset, so I told him: "Hey, it's not your fault. I actually smelled you out, and even then it took me a while. Guess it's 'cause you're a wolf, huh?"

He looked hopeful.

"Yeah, maybe. He just wanted me to spy on you anyway because he wasn't sure if you were the real thing or one of Naraku's tricks. Ya' know, some resarected half-demon girl or something."

I frowned. This Naraku again?

"Hey, my mom mentioned some guy named Naraku. Who exactly is he? It didn't exactly sound like she liked him too much. . ."

"Who _does_ like Naraku?" Hakkaku asked, appearing from the side opposite Ginta. "Ginta, you're so dead when Koga finds out that you're actually talking to her."

"Hey, smart one." I said. "In case you haven't noticed, _you're_ talking to me, too."

"No, I'm not! I'm talking to Ginta!"

I grinned.

"You just spoke to me." I said deviously.

He seemed to loose track of what he was going to say for a few seconds. I laughed again. Pretty soon, Hakkaku and Ginta were laughing too.

"So. . ." I began again once we all stopped laughing like the idiots we are. "Who _is_ Naraku? I can't exactly go and ask my mom, at least not anymore. . ." My voice trailed off.

"He's. . . a guy." Ginta said lamely. "He's. . . uh. . . not very nice."

I raised my eyebrows.

"'Not very nice'?" I quoted. "Oh, c'mon, I know you can do better than that. What's he do? What's he like?"

"Fine. You want all the gory details, we'll tell you." Hakkaku said to me. "But I'm warning you, it's not a pretty story."

I rolled my eyes. I'd yet to see a slash-em-up movie that could give me nightmares.

"Try me." I challenged. "I'm sure I can handle it."

"Alright." Hakkaku began. "He's. . . I think he's a half-Demon. Ah, he killed a good chunk of our comrades, and I guess he's taken out a hole bunch of other people. InuYasha sure seems to hate him for some reason, and so do Kagome and her friends."

"Who're. . . never mind." I said, crossing my arms. "But your pall Koga sure seems strong enough. Why doesn't he just get all slash and kill on this Naraku dude?"

"Cause he's disappeared." Koga announced, coming out from behind me. "You two," he added to Hakkaku and Ginta. "Drop and give me fifty. No, seventy. I told you to follow her, not get all buddy-buddy with her. She's a half-demon, remember?"

There it was. The one thing that made me tick. _Half-Demon._ It was like a curse word or something. I don't have a problem with people _pointing out_ that I'm half-Wolf-Demon, it's only when they use it as an insult. And that sure as hell was an insult!

"Got a problem with that, ya' damned cross-dresser?!" I demanded, balling up my fists. I wasn't exactly lying, either. He was in a skirt and metal breastplate, though my mother had told me once that most if not all Wolf-Demons dressed like that. She'd also told me that she _loved_ the skirts.

"How come?" I'd asked innocently.

"Easy access!" She'd told me, bursting into peels of laughter.

That was my mom. Always filled with dirty jokes and punch lines. She was always laughing, and I guess some of it had rubbed off onto me.

Even now, as I was glaring at the guy, I could come up with a thousand jokes about the situation, half that weren't really all that funny.

"Yeah, I do have a problem with that!" Koga was shouting, snapping me back to reality. "'Cause you're an effing freak!"

I growled deep in my throat.

"You'd better watch what you say, wolf-boy, otherwise you might just wake up one night wondering why your head's rolling on the ground ten feet away from you!" I snapped, turning around.

"Hey!" he called as I walked away. "Where do you think you're going?!"

"I don't know!" how could I?

"Going home to your mommy?" He taunted to my back. That did it. I snapped. Before he knew it, I was grabbing his throat and pushing him into a tree.

"Don't. You. _Ever._" I hissed into his ear. "Talk. About. My. Mother. Got that?!" I added, an evil glint showing in my eyes.

"What's your deal?" he muttered, rubbing his throat down once I let go.

My bottom lip trembled and I covered up the bottom of my face to try and hide the emotion.

"Nothing." I muttered, not able to hide the sob in my voice. "I. . . I just don't like people bad-mouthing my mom is all!"

"Koga," Ginta gasped from the ground. "Do you think. . .?"

"Yeah." Koga said quietly, looking at me with a slightly new look in his eyes. "I heard you talking in your sleep. Something about your mom. What's up with that?"

My lip began to tremble again, and I had to sit down while I tried to blink back the tears.

"Nothing." I whispered, my voice barely audible.

"When'd it happen?" Ginta asked gently, crawling up next to me and putting an arm around my shoulders.

"Few hours ago." I said, shaking him off, even though it really was quite comforting. "Some guy in a monkey was in the room when I got downstairs, but I couldn't find my mom. This is all I could find. . ." I added, fingering the choker.

And with that, I broke down crying.

"S-she told me t-to f-find the well in our b-basement and t-to jump in." I sobbed, burring my face into me knees.

"Monkey costume?" Koga asked sharply. "That sounds like Naraku. What'd he smell like?"

"I-I-I dunno." I moaned, gulping in air and stopping the tears. I let that moment rush over me. I had been worried about my mother, I hadn't paid that much attention to his smell. But wait. . .

"Like he hadn't bathed in a while." I said decisively. "Or, I dunno, like he may have been in a battle. Um. . . I think he smelled like a human. . . but not totally. There was defiantly something else. Kinda' demonic, but nothing I've ever encountered before. I think it was like a bunch of lesser demons mixed together. Or if it wasn't, it was something a hell of a lot like it."

"Yeah." Koga growled. "That's Naraku. HEY! Didn't I tell you guys to give me seventy?! That was only fifty!"

Hakkaku and Ginta, who had apparently been hoping to escape their remaining push-ups, groaned together and fell back to the ground. I had to giggle. It was too funny.

"So. . . Koga said awkwardly. "Do you. . . have anywhere to go?"

"Nope." I answered, puzzled at his question. "Why?"

"Well, I was thinking. . . If you didn't have anywhere else to go. . . I thought you might like to tag along with us. Where're looking for Naraku, anyway, so it's not like it'll be a big hassle for you to get revenge if you want."

I felt myself go into shock. Join up with them? With three Wolf-Demons?

"Uhm. . ." I choked out, the kindness of his offer shocking me more than anything else. "Um, sure, okay, if you don't mind. Yeah, revenge would defiantly be nice. Sure, if you're positive I won't be in the way or anything."

Koga rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, like some half-Demon could get in _my_ way." He muttered.

* * * * *

Susan

* * * * *

"Heh. You a half-Demon?" The boy with doggy ears and amber eyes dressed entirely in red before me asked.

"Ugh. Aren't _you_?" I challenged, picking up his scent and scoffing at his stupidity.

"You smell like a wolf." He told me, making a face.

"Yeah? Well you smell like dogs. And I hate dogs!" I shot back.

"D-do you really?" He asked like the idea was incomprehensible.

"Uh. Wolves are my thing, boy." I announced as Ruby appeared out of the woods and started circling my legs protectively.

"My dear," The monk accompanying the half-Dog-Demon said to me, pushing ahead of his friend and grabbing my hands. "I simply _must_ apologize for my friend's _rude_ behavior."

"Ah. . ." I said, not sure what this guy wanted.

"Miss, could you _possibly _consider bearing my child?" he continued.

Oh. Typical guy.

"Hey, Monk," I said, giving him a sweet smile. "If I punched you right now, you'd go careening backwards off this cliff and to your death. So I'd _really_ advise you to think twice about that little stunt before you pull it on me again." and with that, I ripped my hands out of his, crossed my arms, and gave him the face I give people who try to make me feel like crap about being a half-Demon. The monk looked like I was freaky (and I most defiantly was) and backed away _very_ quickly.

"Idiot." The small Fox-Demon on the school girl's shoulder said.

"So." the Dog-Boy said to me. "You know Koga?"

I rolled my eyes.

"What's it to you? As a matter of fact, I just met him last night. . ." I trailed off as Koga came running in his cyclone. He jumped over the boy and ran to take the school girl's hands, not unlike the hold that the monk had taken on my hands moments before.

"Yo, Kagome." He said to her, grinning this idiot grin. "I thought I picked up your scent, so I came to see 'ya. Sorry, I still don't have Naraku's neck for ya'. I swear that next time I'll bring you his head on a platter."

"Uhm. . ." Kagome said, looking like she would have liked to sink into the ground.

"Are you trying to flirt with her?" I asked like I couldn't believe, trying to spare the poor girl.

Koga turned around to face me, and Kagome mouthed 'thank you' at me.

"I happen to be in love with Kagome!" he barked at me.

"Okay, okay!" I said, raising my hands. "But I'm just saying, if you're trying to flirt with a girl, you might want to leave out the gore. It's _disgusting._" I stuck my tongue out and pretended to gag myself with my index finger.

Kagome and the other girl in the long skirt and long sleeves laughed, and even Koga had to smile.

"Ah, shut up, ya' mangy cross-breed." He said to me good-naturedly, mussing up my hair.

"Puny wolf." I muttered, shaking him off.

"Well, later, Kagome!" Koga said, taking off once again.

"Koga!" I yelled, running after him.

"Koga, wait up!" Ginta pleaded.

"Koga!" Hakkaku shouted, following me.

_They had just caught up, too. _I thought, looking over my shoulder as even I, a half-breed, left them far behind.

* * * * *

Five Days Later

* * * * *

Bankotsu

* * * * *

"Bankotsu? Hel-lo? Earth to Bankotsu." Jakotsu was saying to me, waving his hand in front of my face.

"Huh? Wha?" I asked, jerking out of my thoughts of finding another village to slaughter.

"You were staring off into space like some spacy woman." my very much homosexual friend told me, shaking his head sadly.

"Sorry, Jakotsu," I said, smiling at my best friend. "But not all of us can be as manly as you."

Everybody laughed, even Ginkotsu, though it sounded more like an engine turning over than an actual laugh.

Jakotsu grinned at me, raising his sword, the Jakotsuto.

"I'll kill you for that!" he shouted, chasing me around the campsite while I parried off his small, fake blows with my own weapon, Banryu.

"Hah! Your Jakotsuto is no match for my companion!" I declared as I faked a stab at his heart.

Jakotsu did a very convincing act of dying.

"If you two are done fooling around. . ." Renkotsu said, pretending to be annoyed but not completely able to hide a smile.

"Yeah." I said, helping Jakotsu up. "I guess we _should_ get back to work, huh?"

"When did we start?" Jakotsu asked, ducking down as I punched at his head.

"Both of you, cut it out!" Suikotsu ordered, totally forgetting that I was the leader. I decided not to let it slide this time.

"Hey! Who's the boss around here?!" I demanded. Then, not being able to stand the atmosphere that my own yelling had created, I added: "So Jakotsu, you heard the guy! Stop being an idiot!"

This time it was Jakotsu who tried to punch my head.

"Aw, Jakotsu." I said, faking hurt. "And I was going to let you go after InuYasha. Oh, well. Renkotsu and Suikotsu, _you_ try to handle InuYasha this time. Jakotsu and Ginkotsu, you try to take on Sesshomaru, but don't get yourselves killed like Mukotsu did, got it? Kohaku," I said to the eerily silent Ninja near the campfire "You take them to him. Jakotsu, for crying out loud, if you hurry up, you can see InuYasha get killed!" I added to the pouting Gay boy. "I'm going to take care of Koga after I pack all of our stuff up. Okay, move out!"

"Alright." Jakotsu agreed, slightly cheered by the idea of watching InuYasha die, and hopping onto Ginkotsu. Renkotsu and Suikotsu followed Kohaku into the woods.

About an hour later, I was done packing up all of our crap (Jakotsu has a lot of clothes and makeup, and you can't imagine the amount of oil we have to lug around for Ginkotsu) and was attempting to put out the camp fire. Then, out of the blue, I heard a girl's voice shouting playfully:

"Hakkaku! Ginta! I'm going to murder you!!"

"Catch us if you can!" one of Koga's friends shouted.

"Do you really want me to?!" the girl demanded. I heard three separate sets of pounding footsteps. Losing concentration about what I was trying to do, the sleeve of my shirt caught fire.

"AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" I cried, running around in circles and waving my arm above my head like an idiot.

"Huh?" the voice asked and I heard the slight crunching of leaves as the girl came to a halt.

Of course, I was still running around and screaming. At least, I was, until I cold burst of water hit me. The flame went out, and I could look at the laughing girl in front of me clearly.

She was wearing a silver skirt that came to a little under half-way to her knees with some kind of skin-tight black pants on her legs. Her shirt was a sleeveless mess of black, grey and pink, and her arms were covered with some black covering that looked kind of like fishing nets. Her hair was curly in the extreme, and pulled up into a pony-tail on top of her head. Her eyes were a strange color, some kind of green-blue that was really pretty.

She was bent over laughing, holding her stomach, and some kind of gun with a majorly big barrel was laying at her feet.

"Oh-my-_god_!" she howled, sinking down to her butt and laughing harder still. "What-the-_hell_?!"

"It wasn't that funny." I muttered, taking a closer look at her. I noticed that her ears were a little big and pointed, and so were a couple of her teeth. _Half-Demon_? I thought.

"Yes-it-was!" She said, taking deep breaths. "You looked like _such_ an idiot! It was _hilarious_!"

I rolled my eyes.

"Sure, kid, whatever." I said, taking in her appearance once again. It wasn't as shocking at a second glance. "Why're you dressed like that?" I asked, unable to restrain myself.

This time it was _her_ who rolled her eyes.

"Um, 'cuz I like to be weird and most of my friends dress like this." She said like it was obvious. Then she grinned again. "I'm Susan, by the way," She added. "Who're you?"

"Name's Bankotsu." I said, grinning back. "What _is_ that thing, anyway?" I asked, nodding toward the gun.

"Oh, that? That's my Super Soaker." Susan told me. "It's the Icy Blast kind. I lugged it from home 'cuz I couldn't resist getting Hakkaku and Ginta by surprise. But they got a hold of a couple of my other ones and ambushed me. I'll kill them if I ever find them!" She added jokingly, then burst out laughing. "Yeah! Kill them! Sure, right! As if _I_ could ever kill them! They make me laugh too much!"

I just had to laugh along. She had that kind of laugh that just rolls out of her body and seems to infect anything around her.

"Well," She said finally, still shaking with silent giggles. "I'd better get back to camp and get into some warmer clothes. _Normal_ clothes, now I think about it." She grinned yet again. "Wonder what Koga'll do if I spray him." she muttered.

_Koga?!_ I thought. _She's tagging along with Koga of the Wolf-Demon Tribe?!_

"I guess I'll see you later, Bankotsu!" Susan continued, giving me a sly wink. "Stay away from the hot springs, okay? I'm going to want to warm up a bit." laughing like an idiot, she ran off at a speed that could only belong to a half-demon.

I felt sick as she took off. She was hanging with Koga, the one who I'd told the others I was going to kill. Really, it was pathetic. I'd killed nine thousand, ninety-nine people before I'd been executed, and now that Naraku had restricted me, my number was up to ten thousand something. I'd killed ten thousand plus people, taken at least ten thousand lives away from very living, very aware beings, each with their own story, hopes, and dreams. Dozens of kids had been slayed by my great halberd Banryu. Yet I knew I wouldn't be able to kill that one half-Demon girl. It wasn't a question of being physically able to do it. No, there was absolutely no doubt that I'd be _able_ to do it. I just couldn't look at that face, into those eyes, her face tormented with shock and fear, with those perfect lips and eyes wide open, tears brimming in those beautiful aqua eyes, and know that it was _me_ who'd taken her life away from her.

Like I said, really pathetic. But that girl had made me laugh an actual laugh that I hadn't uttered in a very long time. It was _her_ who'd done it, with her funky clothes and carefree attitude mixed with those eyes that were filled with laughter and love for her life. It was that which had made me roar out into the forest. That had made me forget, just for a moment, that I had a job to do, otherwise Naraku was likely to kill me. For just a few minutes, she'd made me feel like a man. Not an undead man, just a normal, living guy.

"Oh, dammit!" I muttered, sinking down onto a rotting log. "What the fuck is wrong with me?! Suddenly I'm developing morals, just like that?!"

I knew that I had to kill Koga, or at least try to. But how could I do that without hurting the girl in the process?

Then it hit me. Just like that, in a sudden revelation, I knew. The hot springs. Girls liked hot springs, and by the time I had taken care of the job at hand, Koga would be dead. I could even be there, too. Pretending that I'd heard some kind of uproar and ran over to see what was happening, but arriving too late and finding the demon dead. That would work. That would defiantly work. There was no doubt about it. I could get the girl, kill Koga, and I might even get lucky and get to see that hot girl in the springs.

* * * * *

Susan

* * * * *

"No peeking!" I shouted over my shoulder as I undid the snap on my silver denim skirt.

"Cha, as if there's anything to look at!" Koga hollered back at me.

"You just be a good little wolf and stay far away from these springs until I'm done!" I countered, slipping the mini off to reveal my black spandex leggings. I pulled off my punk/rocker sleeveless to and my fish-net long sleeved tee so I was in nothing but my bra and leggings. I stripped those off too, and finally just stood there shivering in my underwear.

"G-g-g-God!" I stuttered, shaking like crazy. "It's f-f-f-frickin' f-f-f-freezin' out here!"

I quickly undid my bra strap and slipped out of my panties and sank gratefully into the hot springs.

"A-a-ah" I muttered as I my feet touched the sandy bottom. Compared to the morning air, these pools were boiling! The water came to just below the bottom of my breasts, and I was actually a little nervous about getting _those_ in this hot water. They were very sensitive.

"Can't be much worse than the shower." I reasoned, bending my knees and leaning against a warm rock so that everything but my head was submerged under the murky water.

"Oh, wow." I moaned as the water began to relax my leg muscles that were sore from running for three days straight.

_That's how long I've been hanging around Koga, Hakkaku and Ginta._ I though. _Three whole days. I've slept near them, and they haven't tried to slice my throat open or even rape me. I've been pretty much naked with only a tree blocking me from view, and they've never tried anything. Koga let me go home last night to get my clothes and things, and he even told me to be careful alone and ended up sending Hakkaku to keep me safe. He can be such a jerk at times, though. But I think that he really might care more than he's showing. He hunts and doesn't hoard the best meet. In fact, he lets me and the guys eat before he'll even touch anything. _

My thoughts turned to that guy- Bankotsu- that I'd met only a half-hour ago.

_He was nice, I have to admit. But he smelled graveyard soil. I guess he could have been visiting his mom's grave or whatever and fallen into a hole or something, but the scent was all over his body and his clothes were clean. I did blast him with my Super Soaker, though, so the dirt could have washed off him. Who knows, though? He could be a grave-digger or. . . I dunno. . . Ah, well. Who the hell cares? I'm a pretty freaky girl, so I guess I'm not one to talk._

Sighing, I reached out of the water to get a hold of my VO8 Sun kissed Raspberry shampoo and matching conditioner.

"Ah, sweet bliss." I moaned, working up a lather in my hair and breathing in the delicious smell, washing out the grime that I'd managed to get in my hair the night before while I'd slept. Nobody had noticed it, but my head had felt like crap all day. I dunked my head and started to massage the conditioner into my scalp. It felt _soooo_ good.

I tried to think of other things, but my mind kept trailing back to Bankotsu and Koga. I ended up comparing and contrasting them.

_Well, Koga's the hottest guy that I've ever met, without a doubt, but Bankotsu is the sexiest. Everything about that guy is sexy, down to his voice and his laugh. Koga's really loyal, though, and you can tell he'd do anything for the girl he loves. I mean, just look at the way he treats Kagome! It's like she's some princess! And he's strong on top of all of that. But Bankotsu has that giant halberd, and he'd have to be really strong to lift the thing. You can't really tell anything about his body make-up, though, since he wears all of that baggy shit. Koga wears that skirt. Mom was so fuckin' right. Those skirts are _uber-_hot, and I love that armor._

"Oh, dammit." I muttered, sinking further under the water. "What in God's name am I doing? It's almost like I'm going to end up marrying them or something! I'm thirteen! I _so_ shouldn't be thinking about that kind of thing!"

But some little voice in the back of my head kept nagging at me.

_You're going to be fourteen in a few weeks._ It reminded me. _And you're a hell of a lot mature than half of the kids in your grade, and all of the ones you hang out with._

Great. So now I was hearing voices.

"I am so fucked up it's not even funny." I muttered, gliding a bar of soap around my body. "I am so messed that I should just start smoking weed and downing. . . whatever kind of pills people take anymore."

It was right then that I heard Hakkaku and Ginta yelling their heads off.

"What in God's name. . ?" I asked, heaving myself out of the water and quickly toweling off. I pulled on some clean underwear and jeans, plus my long-sleeved _Harry Potter_ tee-shirt and a sweat shirt proclaiming: I Love New York!, my sneakers and socks and ran in the direction of the guy's yelling.

"Damn, Koga!" I gasped out loud after running over a mile. "When I told you guys to stay away, I didn't mean that you should get miles away from where I was!"

I leapt over fallen logs and met up with Ruby after a bit.

"Ruby! You heard them, too?!" I huffed, all of the sprinting finally getting to me.

"Yeah! Something's attacking them, but I have no idea of who or even what!"

"I know! I can't even smell them anymore!" I cried. But then it seemed like I ran smack into a brick wall.

"Susan!" Ruby cried, grinding to a halt right next to me.

"O-o-o-h." I moaned, holding my cranium in my hands. "Oh, God, my head. What did I run into?"

"Nothing." Ruby whispered. "You just bounced back like you'd hit something."

Slowly, I got up and felt along in front of me. My hands finally hit something very solid and giving off one hell of an aura.

"What. . ." I said quietly, feeling along it. "A barrier? In the middle of the woods? What's going on here?"

Hakkaku's voice screamed from somewhere inside the barrier.

"They're in there!" I cried, trying to kick that barrier out of existence and only succeeding in being thrown off balance and getting a sore foot. "God dammit, they're somewhere in that barrier, and I can't get in!"

**END CHAPTER**

I know, I know. It was extremely long and there were a million places where I could have ended the chapter, but I wanted to wait until Bankotsu came in, and since I have the whole thing almost completely worked out in my head anyways, it was basically impossible to end the chapter anywhere else. I NEVER totally figure something out before I begin to write it, since that's not much fun for me. I just have the basic ideas in my head, and I work off from there. This is kinda' my first fanfic, but I've been writing for years, so don't even think about telling me how to write my stories! I've seen that kind of thing on YouTube, and it's really disrespectful and rude. I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!!!! So sorry, Internet-flamers, but you can't get to me!

No, I'm not really a punk/goth/emo girl, but some of my friends are, and I think it's the coolest look ever. I'm making up some friends for my next one, which I think might take place mostly in the present. Like I said, I don't have it totally figured out yet, and the second chapter ALWAYS takes longer than the first for me. Well, almost always. IDK, maybe it won't take as long as I think it will, but who really knows?


	2. Family

* * * * *

Chapter Two

* * * * *

Sesshomaru

* * * * *

"Lord Sesshomaru. . . Lord Sesshomaru. . . Master Jaken, what rhymes with Lord Sesshomaru?" Rin was asking.

"Now, let's see. . . Sesshomaru. . . Sesshomaru. . . Um. . . kazoo?" Jaken said weakly.

"'Lord Sesshomaru, his voice like a kazoo?'" Rin asked. "That doesn't sound right, Master Jaken. Isn't that kinda' insulting?"

Jaken became very quiet.

All of a sudden, I smelled wolves. A young half-Demon girl in some kind of blue pants and a baggy grey shirt with a kind of blue printing on it and very wet brown hair came dashing by, not even noticing my us, and jabbering away to a wolf.

"Ruby! You heard them, too?!" she huffed, as though she'd been running for a while

The wolf growled in response.

"I know! I can't even smell them anymore!" she cried as though she could understand the wolf's every growl. Then she ran right into the barrier that I'd noticed minutes before hand.

"Rawr!" Ruby cried, grinding to a halt right next to the girl.

"O-o-o-h." she moaned, holding her skull in her hands. "Oh, God, my head. What did I run into?"

The wolf started up a series of barks and growls.

Slowly, she got up and felt along in front of her. Finally, she found the barrier.

"What. . ." she said quietly, feeling along it. "A barrier? In the middle of the woods? What's going on here?"

A male voice screamed from somewhere inside the barrier.

"They're in there!" she cried, kicking the barrier and almost falling on her rump. "God dammit, they're somewhere in that barrier, and I can't get in!"

I was mildly suprised when that half-demon brat began to punch and kick the barrier with as much strength as she could muster. I was even more shocked when it was Rin who went up to her and began to talk to the girl.

"Um, excuse me." She said timidly, walking over slowly as though the other girl was going to rip open her throat.

"Huh?" she asked, turning around to face Rin.

"Hi, my name's Rin. Uh, what're you doing?"

The girl tried to smile, but it came out as a grimace.

"I'm trying to break down this damn barrier to save my friends from. . . um. . . whatever's got them in trouble." She answered, adding a punch for good measure. "Thing is, the thing isn't coming down. I am getting so annoyed it isn't even funny! I'm Susan, by the way. Susan Thomas." and with that, she started to body-slam the barrier, which wouldn't have done very much even if it had been a normal wall, since she was just so skinny.

It was only then that she seemed to notice her wet hair, since she growled deep in her throat and pulled it into a pony-tail rather like what that wolf-demon Koga wore.

"I am so glad that I put the band on my wrist instead of with my other clothes." she mutterd, feeling around her skalp and flattening down any bumps. "Wait a minute, what the hell am I doing?! I'm worrying about my hair at a time like this?!"

"Um, Lady Susan? Who're your friends?" Rin asked timdly.

Susan looked at Rin like she was a little weird.

"_What_ did you just call me?" she asked with a bit of a laugh in her voice. "_Lady_ Susan? Kid, let me tell you, I'm not royalty, not by a long shot. And have you ever heard of Koga, Hakkaku and Ginta of the Wolf-Demon Tribe?"

Rin stiffened at the mention of the wolves.

"Yeah." She said carefully. "Um, Koga let his wolves loose in the village where I was staying after my parents were killed. But he saved me from a demon a few weeks ago, so I guess he's alright."

Susan's eyes widened.

"_Koga_ did _that_?!" she demanded, covering up her mouth with her fist in horror. "Oh, my _God_. That's. . . But then he saved you. . . Damn, what is that wolf's problem? Eat a human one day and save one's life the next? That's insane. I'm going to kill him, I really am. As soon as I save him, I'm going to kill him. Or at least break his nose for him or something."

Rin laughed.

"So, your friends are in danger?" I asked, finally stepping out of the forest.

Susan's eyes widened at the sight of me.

"Whoa, where'd you come from? I didn't even smell you." She said.

"That's Lord Sesshomaru!" Rin chirpped, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "He saved me after the wolves attacked me!"

"Hi." Susan said, biting her lip. I could understand her caution. It is very unnerving for a demon, even a half-Demon, with a strong sence of smell to find somebody has followed them or snuck up on them and to find that they havn't smelled the opponent. I nodded in her direction.

"This barrier smells of Naraku." I said, drawing my sword, the Tokijin. "The both of you get back." Rin nodded with gusto and ran back behind me. Susan quickly followed suit, running backwards until she hit a tree.

"What're you going to-" She began to ask before I slashed at the barrier with the sword and brought down the barrier with a slash of purple. "Oh." Was all she said. Then she told me happily: "Thank you!" and took off twords the direction of the smell of wolves with the animal that she'd called Ruby close on her heels.

* * * * *

Susan

* * * * *

_Well, that was odd. _I thought as I ran toward Koga and the others. _But I have to admit, that Dog-Demon sure was strong. Hey. . . he smelled a hell of a lot like InuYasha. Or am I just immangining things again? No matter, I have to get to Koga._

Dismissing Sesshomaru from my mind, I picked up speed as I ran downhill and lept clear over a small cliff.

"YYYAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!" I screamed as my legs searched for solid ground. Just because I was able to do it didn't make it any less terrifying.

After what seemed like an eternity, my feet touched down and I actually _did_ fall on my butt. I jumped right back up, though, and kept running. Ruby miraclously made the jump, too, and caught up with me withing a few seconds.

All of a sudden, I heard Hakkaku and Ginta screaming in unison. I ran over toward their frightened voices to see them hugging each other in fear.

"Ginta! Hakkaku!" I shouted standing in front of them and planting my hands on my hips. "What the hell is going on?!"

They looked at me with wild looks in their eyes.

"Susan!" Ginta cried, moving over to clutch at _me_ instead. "It's the Band of Seven!"

"The _what_?!" I demanded, trying untangling myself from his grip.

"The Band of Seven!" Hakkaku told me, trying to assist me in my futal attempt to get Ginta off. "Haven't we told you about them?"

"No." I gasped, finding it hard to breathe. "Who are they?"

"They're undead mercenaries who love to kill!" Ginta whinned, holding onto me even tighter than ever. "Naraku brought them back to life with the Scared Jewel Shards! Koga's in trouble! He's fighting their leader!"

"Their leader?-_Ginta, would you fucking let go of me?!_- But if Koga's in trouble, shouldn't we be _over there_ helping him instead of hiding out _over here_?!" They looked at me like I had a mental issue.

"No!" Hakkaku said as Ginta finally released me. "He'll kill us!"

I rolled my eyes.

"C'mon, you guys! Toughen up! You're _Wolf-Demons_ and you're afraid of some dead guy?"

"He has a _big_ halberd." Ginta said like that made a differance.

"So?" I challenged, not thinking too hard about the fact that the leader weilded an oversized halberd. "Just dodge it! Whatever, why am I wasting time debating with you two? I should be helping Koga like a half-way decent person!"

And with that, I started running off toward the direction that Koga's unmistakable stench was coming from.

* * * * *

Koga

* * * * *

It was one of those moments that I hated being the leader of the Demon-Wolf Tribe.

I was bleeding and baring my fangs at some bastard in white baggy clothes and a kind of guard with purple vines painted on hanging between his legs. His long black hair was pulled into a braid that hung to his waist, a huge halberd was leaning against his shoulder, and a very bord expression was settled on his face.

"Look," he was saying. "hurry up and die, already! Or do you want me to come over there and chop your head off right here and now?"

"Who in hell are you?!" I demanded, pushing against my face to stop the blood flow of a rather nasty cut.

"Heh. Havn't you guessed?" that son of a bitch sneared. "Fine. I'm Bankotsu, leader of the Band of Seven!" he finished, flourishing his halberd toward me.

At that moment, I heard a loud crashing through the trees, and a very famillar scent hit my nostrals. Susan.

"Huh?" I mumbled, looking in that direction. I guess Bankotsu heard the noise, since he looked in the same direction. And lo and behold, Susan came into the picture right when she was needed the _least_!

"Koga!" she shouted, coming to an abrut hault. "Uh, wait a minute. What the hell? Bankotsu?!"

Bankotus leered at her. I frowned. I didn't like the way he was looking at her. I was already starting to think of the girl as a part of my pack, and I wasn't too fond of this undead man looking at her like she was a piece of meat.

"Hey, there, Susan." he said to her, leaning the handle of his halberd on his right shoulder. "Guess I'm seeing you again sooner than I thought I would."

Susan had a very confused look on her face.

"Hang on one God-forsaken minute!" she said, crossing her arms. "Hakkaku and Ginta said that the leader of the Band of Seven was fighting Koga. Judging from the looks on their faces and the fact that Ginta was holding me in a strangle-grip, I guess that isn't too good. But I thought they also said that the leader was dead, and you're sure as hell alive!"

"Naraku revived him." I growled. "He brought the whole group back to life. Two are already dead. I killed one, and InuYasha's half-brother Sesshomaru killed the other."

"You know, the Ninja said that the barrier was almost inpenertable. How'd you get in?" Bankotsu said to Susan, utterly ignoring me.

She gave him a weird look.

"Ninja? Like on _Naruto_? What're. . . never mind. It doesn't matter. Anyway, some Dog-Demon dude named Sesshomaru killed that barrier with one swing of one of his sword. It had one heck of a demonic aura, so I guess it wasn't exorcized properly."

I decided that I definately didn't like the look Bankotsu was giving Susan. It was like he could see straight through her clothes or something! Come to think of her clothes, Susan was dressed very weirdly for her. She was in some kind of pants made of a different, more casual matieral than usual, and her sweatshirt, as Kagome called it, was more form-fitting than I was used to seeing her in. It came closer to the spaghetti-strapped top she'd worn on the night I'd met her than amything else.

"Susan." I growled, shielding her from view. "Run."

"_What?!"_ she demanded, looking at me like she couldn't believe it. "I am not _running away_ from a fight, Koga! I never have and I never will! Besides, you're hurt really badly; don't think I can't see or smell the blood!"

"Just get out of here!" I ordered desprately. "This guy is tougher than any human you might have ever fought against!"

"What makes you think I've just fought humans?" she demanded, standing her ground. "I've faced down demons before too, you know!"

_This is getting us nowhere!_ I thought. Not even thinking of what I was doing, I picked the skinny girl up by her waist and threw her over my shoulder. I ran off with Bankotsu's taunts at my back.

"Running away? Coward!" he shouted. I wasn't even listening. I had to get Susan away from that molestor-freak! Of course, the girl in question wasn't too happy about being tossed over my shoulder and banging her nose on my back.

"_Fuck_, Koga!" she was shouting at the top of her lungs as I ran along the country-side after yelling at Hakkaku and Ginta to catch up when they could. "Put me _down!_ I'm not some carrion bag!"

I ignored her until we got to the Well that took her back to her own time. Susan had gotten it out of Kagome that we weren't in their own time, and instead of something they called the "Twenty-first century" we were in the Feudal era.

"Koga," Susan said in a threatening voice as I lowered her down from my shoulder. "You had better no-AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!" she screamed as I more or less threw her and her thousand-pound bag of clothes that I had grabbed while fleeing Bankotsu down the well. As soon as she was over and I couldn't smell her anymore, I uprooted a tree and shoved it, branches first, down the well. Over-reactiong? Maybe. But there was no way I was letting her get hurt because of that Bankotsu.

* * * * *

Susan

* * * * *

"Damn Koga!" I whispered after I tried to get back through the Well but just ended up in the bottom of my basement. "He must have blocked it up over on his side!"

I was madder than I had ever been in my life. First he picks me up by my _waist_ and then he chucks me down the well without even saying goodby?! I was mad at Koga for doing that to me. I was mad at Bankotsu for doing what I saw at the ultimate betrayal of my trust. I was mad at Ruby for not trying to stop Koga, or if she had, not being very effective at it. And most of all, I was mad at myself for being fooled by the nice-guy act that Banktosu had put on. How had I been fooled so easily?! Was I _that_ starved for affection from a guy that I would let him walk all over me?!

"I'm pathetic," I mumbled, throwing my bag up and over the edge. "I am so damn pathetic."

When I got up into my kitchen, all I wanted to do was sleep. But I knew that I couldn't. I was hungry, and it's hard for me to think on an empty stomach.

"Something easy." I muttered, searching through the freezer. "Something that doesn't take too many brain cells trying to figure out how to cook it. . ."

Finally, I settled on cheese ravioli and Ragu sauce. I threw some water in a pan and set it on the stove on high, and put a bit of the sauce in a small sauce-pan on low so it didn't boil before I had even got the water to. Once the water started to boil, I threw about half the bag of the ravioli in and just let it go for three minutes. I knew the drill. How many times had I fended for myself while mom was at work or one of her many parties? I had lost count after the first week.

As I sat down at the table to eat the pasta dish, I realized that something was missing from the entire set up. Something warm and fuzzy that lay at my feet and filled the lonely house with converstaion as I ate. Something that I had come to depend upon every single day. Ruby. Ruby was back in the Feudal Era of Japan. Silently, I started to cry, my ravioli entirely forgotten. Ruby was a part of me now. Leaving her was like leaving a part of my soul. I kept on crying as I forced myself to eat and change into my pajamas. I was still crying when I went to bed, and I even cried myself to sleep, missing to warmth of cuddling up to Ruby as I shared a bed with my little wolf.

* * * * *

"Hey, Ellie!" I shouted the next morning. "Ells, wait up!" I jogged to catch up with my blond friend.

"Huh? Susan? You're alive?!" Ellie shouted joyfully.

I rolled my eyes at my one friend who didn't dress like a freak.

"Yes, Ellie, I'm alive."

As I spoke, a penguin poked it's head out of Ellie's bag and started to chatter to Ellie.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sure. Yeah, I'll tell her." Ellie said to it. Then, to me she said: "Pizlop says you look like shit, Susan."

I glanced down at the penguin named Pizlop that Ellie had owned for as long as I had known her. Pizlop was Ellie's brain, since she only had enough to breathe and pass school with seventies and the rare eighties or nineties. Don't get me wrong, Ellie is a smart girl, but she just doesn't have the attention span to get anything higher.

"Thanks, Pizlop." I said sarcasticaly. "That'll do so much to boost my already dwindling self-esteem."

Pizlop and Ellie laughed, though Pizlop's laugh was more like a bird choking than a real laugh. Penguins just aren't meant to laugh.

"Uh oh, Ellie." I said, looking over her shoulder. "Principal at twelve o' clock!"

Quick as a fash, Pizlop dissapperaed into Ellie's bag, my friend zipped it up, and it was like he was never there. Now, you might ask how a penguin could survive in a backpack all day in a very artificially-heated school building. I know I did. As it turns out, Ellie's bag is built like a freezer, set to around twenty degrees so Pizlop doesn't get heatstroke and die. You might think that it's a little extreme to do that just so you can cart a penguin around with you where ever you go, but when you get as close to an animal as Ellie is to Pizlop or I am to Ruby, you just can't get by without them. As it was, I ate my lunch in the cort-yard near the forest so I could be with Ruby.

"So what's wrong?" Ellie asked me once the principal was clear and it was safe for Pizlop to come out agian.

I bit my lip. How was I going to explain to Ellie that I had spent the last five days in the Feudal Era, been tricked by an undead mercenary, been shoved down a well, and that Ruby was stuck with a full-fledged Wolf-Demon's pack and that I was pretty much lost without her?

As it turned out, I didn't have to, becuase at that moment, Ellie noticed the apple tree that was behind me and had only been in that exact same spot for all of out school careers.

"Oooooh, look! Apppples!!!!" Ellie squealed, dashing over to pluck some of the fruit from the lower branches as Pizlop chattered in protest. I couldn't be sure, of coure, but I was pretty sure that he was saying: "Ellie, No! Those apples will be there later! Something's up with your friend, any you just asked her what! You should listen to her answer!"

Ellie shoved Pizlop impatiently into her back-pack and I just had to laugh. One would swear that she had the attention span of a mouse!

* * * * *

"Suze! Hey! Susan!" my friend Heidi asked me the after the bell rang to signal the start of fifth period. God, why the hell was the day moving so slowly?!

"Huh? Wha?" I asked, being jerked out of my trance.

"Girl, you have _got_ to start paying attention! I know this block schedule sucks, but Hon, it's already sixth period!"

"Sixth? I thought it was fifth." I said, still in a daze.

"Then mind telling me why everyone is leaving the classroom to go to seventh?" Heidi asked, rolling her eyes.

I blinked. Everyone was passing to seventh period.

"Oh." I muttered, shoving my books into my bag and running for the door. My schedule sucked. Period 1/2 I had Science, 3/4 sent me packing for Global History in the other buliding, 5/6 I was either in Science or Gym, my 7/8 was split in half, 7 being Chorus and 8 being lunch (at one in the afternoon!) and 9/10 was my very noisy, hyperactive Algebra class. I didn't get English or Spanish until the second semester, and those are my favorite (and my best) subjects!

"Suze, what's up?" Heidi asked, falling into step with me since we were in the same chorus. "You're not like, well, _you_ today. What's wrong? Did something happen with your mom again?"

I forced a smile. I may have known Ellie for the longest, but Heidi was definately the girl I told my secrets to. Ellie would just go and forget everything that I'd said, anyway.

"Well, sorta'." I admitted, turning the corner. "She hasn't been home all week. That's why I haven't been in school. I've been looking for her."

Heidi looked spooked.

"Do you think she went off to look for your dad again?" she whispered.

I sighed. But then the tears came to my eyes.

You see, I told people my dad was dead, but there was never really any proof about it. He just kinda' dissappeared when I was in kindergarten. I thought he had to be dead, since we never got any phone calls or letters or anything. But my mom held fast to the idea that he was still alive, just hiding out somewhere. She thought that he might have hit his head and gotten amnesia. Or that his tribe had showed up and taken him away. Hell, she'd even told me that he'd secretly enlisted in the Army and gone off to fight in Iraq and that he'd been stranded on a deserted island when his ship sunk. Anything other than the simple fact that he was probably dead.

Mom looked for dad in surviver lists and Google searches. I looked for him in obituraries and graveyards.

My mother was so desperate for him to be alive that she even went off to look for him while I was at school, leaving me alone in the house with only a note, food, and a couple hundred dollar bills for groceries and emergencies. It was pretty pathetic, if you asked me, that after seven, eight years she _still_ spent her weekends Google-stalking military people and interrogating demons via phone calls.

"I. . . I'm not sure, Heidi." I whispered. "She might have gone on one of her party-rages again, or. . ." I wouldn't say 'Some demon might have kidnapped her to mess with me.' Not even Heidi knew that I was a half-demon. "Or. . . I don't know." I finished lamely. "But Ruby's away with. . . with her tribe. So I'm totally alone. But for how long, I don't know. I met this guy this week while I was looking for mom, and he might even come to my place with. . . with a new lead or something." I finished in a mutter. Sure, Koga might come, but that was very unlikely, since he'd just thrown me down a dry well the night before. The night. . .

"Oh, shit!" I whispered, coming to an abrut hault.

"What?" Heidi asked, looking at me with a concerned gaze in her eyes.

"I totally forgot. . . tonight. . ." I hissed, totally ignoring Heidi. _"Dammit! Dammit to hell!"_

"Susan, what is your problem?!" Heidi demanded, shaking me soundly.

"Oh," I said, faking a smile. "Nothing much. I just forgot something that I was supposed to do tonight."

In all the drama, I had totally forgotten that I was going to turn into a human the next night.

* * * * *

Derik

* * * * *

"Finally," I muttered as the last bell rang, releasing me from the torture they call algebra. Friday was finaly over!

Glancing to the other side of the quickly emptying classroom, I saw Heidi and Ellie grabbing their things and rushing over to Susan to talk to her. Looking at the three psyco girls, I had to laugh to myself. Then a different kind of smile came to my lips. Heidi was in black trip pants with red chains that she spray-painted because she thought that colored chains were cool on trips with a blood-red spaghetti strap shirt she had half-covered with a white sweat-jacket adorned with multi-colored skulls. Her hair was pulled into four pony-tails like Temari's from that Anime show _Naruto_. Heidi was insane, with her personalities that ranged from Sandy from _Grease _to Rizzo the punk girl and everything in between.

Ellie was really the only semi-normal chick that I hung around with, and her clothes that were almost prep-like. But Ellie was anything but a prep. With her Evenessance book bag slung over her shoulder and mischevois green eyes, she was the most insane of us all. We all knew that she kept her penguin, Pizlop, in the main compartment in her bag, and we also knew that Pizlop acted like something of a brain for Ellie. Ellie is so absentminded she'd loose Pizlop if he hadn't praticaly Superglued himself to the girl.

But that wasn't the reason I smiled. It was Susan, the craziest of us all, was looking pretty depressed, just sitting there and forcing a smile for her friend's sake. She was in silver jeans and a black tee-shirt that said 'You're just jealous that the Voices don't talk to you, too!' with her hair pulled into teased pony-tails on the sides of her head. She had on heavy eyeliner and black eyeshadow. Under her t-shirt, she had on a long-sleveved fishnet top. I had to admit, that smile was pretty authentic, but the way her pointed ears drooped just a bit told me that something was up.

"Yo, mah peeps." I said in my usual greeting.

"Derik!" Susan squeeled, jumping up and hugging me. Susan was pretty big on hugs, I'd noticed that about her after knowing her for a while. It was a pretty convincing act, but damn, that look in her aqua eyes. . .

"Hey." I said, briefly hugging her back. "What's up? You act all depressed."

Heidi looked gloomy.

"Her mom left again." she told me. "And as if that isn't enough, that wolf of her's is away with her pack or something. She's lonely. I guess she's close to it."

"Duh." I whispered back. "That would be why she had lunch in the courtyard everyday."

"Anyway." Susan said, standing up and smiling an actaul smile with those pretty little lips of hers. "Tyler and Taylor are driving. There's a sugar party at my place."

Ellie, Heidi, and I all grinned like idiots. A _sugar_ party at _Susan's_ house?! That could only mean an afternoon of cookies, brownies, Pixie Stix, Hawian Punch, loud music, and crazy tricks and suprises. And if Tyler and Taylor, Susan's crazy goth twin neighbors, were involved, then thing would get utterly insane. In other words, our kind of afternoon.

"Ah, sweet." I said, snatching my pack and following the psyco-chicks to Susan's locker. Of course, our good mood couldn't last for long. At that very moment, none other than the cheerleading prep MacKenzie and her best friend Vivi came along.

"What're you freaks so happy about?" MacKenzie demanded, leaning up against the locker right next to Susan's.

"Fuck off, MacKenzie." Susan said calmly, more or less dropping her math book in her locker and slamming the door shut.

MacKenzie's face turned from disinterist to fury in less than a second.

"_What_ did you just say to me, Susan Thomas?" She demanded in a dangerous tone, poking Susan's collarbone.

"I told you to fuck off." Susan told the prep, shaking her off. "Or is that too much for your tiny prep brain to digest at once?"

As me, Heidi, and Ellie howled with laughter, MacKenzie and Vivi advanced on Susan, looking like they would like to hit her.

"Just try it," Susan hissed, balling up her own fists. "But you two won't stand a chance against me. Especially with Derik backing me up."

I nodded, movng to my friend's side. I would protect Susan to the death. Not that she needed much protection, it was just something that I had always told myself that I would do.

At that last statement, MacKenzie seemed to snap. She lept at Susan, bearing her nails and crashing my friend to the ground. I shouted as Vivi jumped on me, trying to tear my eyeballs out. Heidi and Ellie were cheering for me and Susan, but at that moment, Susan growled from deep in her throat. I punched Vivi in the gut, sending her sprawling on the ground. Looking over in Susan's direction, I saw she had a bloody lip and a black eye, but MacKenzie was on the loosing end. Susan was punching her anywhere she could reach, but the prep just wouldn't give up. She took a hold of Susan's long brown tresses and started banging the goth/emo girl's head against the lockers. Heidi and Ellie frowned and tried to pull the two apart. All they managed to do was piss MacKenzie off more and yank on Susan's head even harder.

I swore and pulled MacKenzie off my friend. Then I slapped her face for good measure.

"Susan! Are you alright, girl?" Ellie asked as Pizlop squeeled in terror.

"Ohm. Oh. Yeah, I'm fine." Susan said, feeling the gashes the locker had left on her face. "Bitch!" she added to the cheerleader. "You ahd better get out of here right now or I'll break your arm for you!"

MacKenzie didn't need telling twice. She sped off with Vivi close on her heels. Susan sighed and pushed herself up.

"Let's go." she said, pulling her bag over her shoulder. "The twins are probably still waiting for us."

We just nodded and followed her to Taylor and Tyler's car. This had certainly been an interesting week.

* * * * *

Bankotsu

* * * * *

"Well," I said to Jakotsu, surveying the tree shoved down the well upside down. "That's a little more than weird. Why do you think somebody shoved a tree down a well, Jakotsu?"

"Couldn't tell you." my femenine friend said, looking at it with quizical eyes. "You gonna' take it out, Ban?"

"Hell, yeah!" I said, grabbing onto it. "I'm going to see why some idiot did this!" I pulled, but the thing was heavy.

"Bankotsu, there's an easier way that that." Jakotsu said, drawing his Jakotsuto. "Stand back!" and with that, he used to sword to cut the tree into a million tiny pieces. Most of the tree trunk even flew out of the well, leaving only a few chunks and the branches still in the thing.

"Great job!" I told the guy, reaching in and pulling out mess of leaves and twigs. "So who's going in first?" I added, standing back and surveying the well.

Jakotsu looked at me like _I_ was the crazy one.

"Whadda' you mean 'who's going in first?!'" he demanded, planting his fists on his hips in a very good inpersonation of Suasn. "I didn't know we were going to be jumping in!"

"Duh." I said, moving in a little closer. "Somebody wanted to keep people out, so there's probably some big secret about this thing. It'll be fun to find out what."

Jakotsu nodded.

"On three?" he asked, swinging his legs over the side.

"Alright." I agreed, copying the gesture. "On three."

"Ready? One. . ."

"Two. . ."

"THREE!" We finished in unison, lowering ourselves in at the same time. There was a giant flash of purple light, and then we were at the bottom of the well.

"Well," Jakotsu said dryly. "That was certainly interesting."

"Huh." I said, crossing my arms. "I was sure that something was going to happen."

"Hey, Bankotsu?" Ja said, looking up. "Isn't it mid-afternoon?"

"Yeah, why?"

"'Cause it't totally dark in here."

With a start, I realized that he was right.

"Weird. . ." I muttered, grabbing a hold of a loose brick and trying my weight on it. "Well, we might as well have a look around while we're in the middle of a mystery!"

When we climbed up out of the thing, I realized that we were almost definately not in the same place anymore. We were surrounded by four walls that were adorned with shelves, which in turn housed a thousand boxes and jars of all shapes and sizes.

"Jakotsu?" I asked uncertainly, looking around. "Where are we?"

At that moment, loud. . .was it music? drifted down to us, making us look around in terror for a second.

Then. .

"I think it's music." Jakotsu said nervously.

"Yeah." I answered, finding a staircase. "Let's check it out."

Jakotsu followed me up the stiars, and we rounded the corner. I pulled him back almost immedietly.

There, not two yards away from us, was Susan and a bunch of other kids. She was surrounded by other boys and girls in black, chains, and fingerless gloves! Loud music seemed to be blaring from a strange box with mesh circles around it, and a boy with red eyes and some kind of leather jacket was putting some kind of disc into it.

"Ty, play it already!" a girl who looked shockingly like him shouted, reaching over and grabbing some kind of cake from a plate.

"Keep your trip pants on!" 'Ty' called back, pushing a button. Instantly, the room was filled with the sound of drums and some kind of strings being strummed.

It was ninteen eighty-nine my folks were sure my head was wrong,

Caught somewhere between a boy and man.

She was seventeen and she was far from inbetween,

It was summertime in northern Michigan.

Splashing throught the sandbar,

Talking by the campfire,

It's the simple thing in life like anywhere.

We didn't have no Internet, but man, I never will forget,

The way the moonlight shined upon her hair.

And we were trying differnt thing,

We were smoking funny things.

Making love out by the lake to our favorite song.

Sippin' whiskey out the bottle,

Not thinking 'bout tomorrow,

Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long!

Catching while out by the docks,

Watching the waves roll of the rocks,

She'll forever hold a spot inside my soul.

We blistered in the sun,

We couldn't wait for night to come!

To hit that sand and play some rock and roll!

Well, we were trying differnt thing,

We were smoking funny things.

Making love out by the lake to our favorite song.

Sippin' whiskey out the bottle,

Not thinking 'bout tomorrow,

Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long!

Well nothing seems as strange as when the leaves began to change,

or how we thought those days would never end.

Sometimes I hear that song, and I start to sing along,

And think man, I'd love to see that girl again.

(Man, I'd love to see that girl again!)

Well, we were trying differnt thing,

We were smoking funny things.

Making love out by the lake to our favorite song.

Sippin' whiskey out the bottle,

Not thinking 'bout tomorrow,

Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long!

(Writer's note: Not sure I got all those lyrics right, but I did what it sounded like to me, so don't be too mad if I didn't get them all right!)

All throughout the song, there was a lot of whining and howling. At the end, they kept repeating 'Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long' over and over and over again.

Apparently, one of the boys agreed with me that the song was crap.

"Damn, what that fuck is this shit?!" he demanded, crawling over to the contraption from his spot on the floor.

"It's 'All Summer Long' by Kid Rock." Susan said, punching him flat on the head. "And don't change the song! This one's almost over, and it's one of my favorites!"

Looking closer at her, I could see the girl was in a state. Her face was cut up, her lower lip had been gashed open, and her right eye was black and blue.

"Derik, you heard the girl!" the one girl who wasn't wearing black called over. "Let the CD play, God dammit! Pizlop says to let it play, too! He likes Kid Rock! But then put on Evenessence!"

"Linkin Park!" a girl with purple hair who had yelled at Ty to play the music called out, picking up a can of something and drinking deeply.

"Mastodon!" A girl with red hair and a red shirt insisted, pulling the can away. "Taylor, that's enough soda, already! You're gonna puke!"

"Nightwish!" Derik shouted. "Nightwish or Joan Jett and the Blackhearts!"

"Dammit! Anything other than country!" Ty called, stuffing a cookie in his face.

"I happen to like country, Tyler!" Susan said, hitting him on the head now. "So don't diss Carrie or Taylor!"

"Who?" the boy asked, throwing a pillow at the younger girl.

"Carrie Underwood." Susan said, catching the pillow. "She was, like, the second American Idol or something. And don't even ask me how Taylor Swift got famous, 'cuz I don't know!"

"What's _American Idol_?" the red headed girl asked.

"Are you a hillbillie or somethng, Heidi?!" Susan cried, slapping her own forehead. "You don't know what _American Idol _is?! It's that TV show with all the singing and people being mean and everything!"

"Dude! This one guy I saw on that show was hot!" Tyler shouted, turning up the volume.

"You bish!" Taylor shouted at her supposed twin and threw a pillow at him. "Not if front of the kids!"

Eventually, thing calmed down and people began to leave.

Everybody but Susan, who stayed and picked up cans and plates filled with nothing but crumbs now.

With a start, I realized that she lived here. This was her house. And those lunatics were her friends.

* * * * *

Susan

* * * * *

Okay, I'll admit it! My friends are insane! Happy?!

After my friends had gone away and left me alone (Yes, in case you're wondering, Tyler is gay. But honestly, who cares? He's a cool guy.) I put in my alleged Taylor Swift CD and started to pick up the living room. Thank God I had one of those noiseless vacum cleaners. Suddenly, as I was picking up empty soda cans (Coke, Dr. Pepper, Sprite, Twister, Vanilla-Cherry Pepsi, you name it, we had it.) Teardrops on my Guitar came on. I couldn't help myself. I started to sing along in the soft voice that I still could hardly believe came from me.

...I fake a smile so he won't see,

That I want and I'm needing,

Everything that we should be.

I bet she's beautiful,

That girl he talks about,

And she's got everything that I have to live without.

Drew talks to me,

I laugh 'cuz it's do damn funny,

That I can't even see anyone when he's with me,

He says he's so in love,

He's finally got it right.

I wonder if he knows he's all I think about at night?

All of a sudden, I stopped singing. I loved to sing, but I just didn't have that much faith in my voice. Blushing, even though nobody had heard me, I finished cleaning up and went up to my room to get ready for bed. Ten minutes later, I was back in my living room with all of my makeup off and adorned in a blue flece shirt and pink, blue, green, and white pinstriped lounge pants. I craked up the heat the seventy-five to combat the howling autumn storm outside, and curled up on the couch with a blanket thrown over my shoulders. I found the TV remote and turned on the TV to see South Park playing. And lo and behold, the one scene that I had memorized thanks to Youtube was playing.

"Dude, what's the big deal about fuck? It's not hurting anybody, look. Fuck fuck fuckety-fuck." Cartman said.

"How would you like to see the school counsler?!" demanded of Cartman.

"How would you like to suck my balls?!"

"What did you say?!"

"Oh, I-I'm sorry, What I meant was. . ." Cartman plugged in an amp and microphone. "AHM. HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO **SUCK MY BALLS**, MR GARROSON?!"

There was a brief silence, interrupted by Kyle saying: "Holy shit, dude."

Howling with laughter, I changed the chanel to Nick to see Avatar the Last Airbender was on. But then I heard the laughing coming from my kitchen, and the scent of dead bodies and graveyard soil hit my nose. Cautiously, I made my way into the room, walking ever so lightly so that not even Koga could hear me coming. And then I saw them. Bankotsu and some cross-dressing guy, rolling on the floor laughing their heads off.

"I have got to pull that one on Renkotsu sometime!" the new guy was laughing, tears streaming from his eyes. "I can just see his face when I go up to him and say 'fuck fuck fuckety-fuck!"

"Yeah! He'll loose it!" Bankotsu agreed.

"What he hell?!" I demanded, backing up. "What are you people doing in my house?!"

Bankotsu looked over at me.

"Oh. Hey, Susan!" He said.

"So." Cross-dresser said, walking over to me. "This is the girl, eh Banktosu? Well, I have to admit, I like her clothes. Very future. But the rest of her, well..."

"Fuck off, dude." I said, crossing my arms. "Like you're one to talk about. . . whatever it is that I don't have."

The guy just shrugged.

"Well, that guy she was hanging around with was pretty cute, at any rate." he said like that settled it.

"Which guy?" I asked, intregued despite myself. "Dreik or Tyler?"

He just looked at me.

"Which one's Dreik and which one's Tyler?" he asked.

"Dreik's the one my age, and Ty's the senior." I said, rolling my eyes.

"Oh, yeah! The older guy!" he said, snapping his fingers.

"Tyler. Well, dude, you're in luck, cuz' Ty is as gay as they come. I could hook you two up if you were from this time, but you're not, so tough luck, I guess. Ty would think I was either very weird or smoking something very funny if I tried to get him with somebody from the Feudal Era."

He looked crestfallen.

"But hey." I said, trying to make nice. "I could introduce you guys."

_I dont't know if Ty is into dead guys, though._ I thought.

The guy gasped.

"Could you?!" he demanded. "Oh, if you could-"

"Not now, Jakotsu." Bankotsu said, asserting himself in front of the taller boy. "You have InuYasha."

I had to hold in a laugh.

"Um, InuYasha?" I asked, not able to hide a smile. "Sorry to tell you this, but I think that Dog-ared mutt is as _straight_ as they come."

"'Dog-Eared Mutt'?" Bankotsu quoted, looking at me strangely.

"Koga's wording." I said. "He calls InuYasha a dog-eared mutt sometimes. He calls him other things, too. Mutt-Face, Puppy, InuTrasha. . . You name it, Koga's probably called InuYasha that name."

Banktosu rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." he said, unable to hide a smile. "Hey, why was that tree shoved in that well?"

"Koga was probably trying to keep you away from me. You know, the whole perverted-mercenary-leering-at-his-pack-member might have set him off."

Banktosu scowled.

"Sure. Whatever. Anyway, you're coming back with us." he informed me, grabbing my upper arm.

"I couldn't agree more." I said, trying to shake him off. "However, Koga seems to think I should be back in my own time."

Bankotsu barked out a laugh.

"_Your own time?!_" He demanded, grabbing my arm tighter. "Look at you! Were you in a fight or something? You look terrible!"

"Actually, yes. I happened to face down the super preppish cheerleader MacKenzie and her mindless underling Vivi today." I grinned. "Derik took on Vivi and I faced MacKenzie. I think we won. But MacKenzie decided to bash my face up against the locker before Derik pulled her off of me. You should see _her_ face, though. I got really angry at her for jumping me like that. I'd be suprised if her parents don't decide to press charges." I laughed. "But I don't care. If I even get wind that they're taking me to court, I'll just mysteriously vanish into thin air. To the Feudal Era." I clarified for Jakotsu's sake.

"Well, I just guess you're going to 'vanish into thin air' now, since I'm not exactly thrilled of the thought of you getting your face beaten in every day!"

"Fuck off." I said, attempting to wiggle my fingers in under his so I could get the blood flowing through my arm again. "It's none of your buisness if I get my face beaten in by a cheerleader and her 'roid pumped boyfriend or one of Naraku's demons in your time!"

Bankotsu was looking at me with something strange brewing in his eyes. It almost made me pass out, his gaze was so intense.

"Will you just shut up and listen to me?!" he demanded, his voice suddenly husky. "How long do you think it'll take Naraku to come to this place? How long do you think Koga will last against him? Or any of your friends for that matter?"

I snorted.

"What're you trying to do, get me crying? Cuz I have news for you, buddy, big girls don't cry."

Okay, I'll admit it, I took that line out of that song Big Girls Don't Cry. But hell, it was the only inteligable thing that I could think of at the moment!

"Nah. I don't like it when girls cry. But you don't really think anybody you know would stand a chance, do you?"

He jerked his head at Jakotsu. Whining, Jakotsu left the room.

"I wanted to see the rest of this." he complained.

Bankotsu waited until his friend had left before he continued to speak to me.

"I don't know what you have against me." he began, grabbing my other arm and looking imploringly into my eyes. "But I think I'm interested."

Good Lord! The guy was actually asking me, and I could or couldn't answer if I wanted to.

I took a breath and let out a sigh.

"I don't think it's you so much as what you stand for." I said quietly, not meeting his gaze. "I mean, you're an okay guy, really. But I did some research last night. I came across your name." I looked up at him. "You killed a whole lot of people and demons, didn't you? And I guess you liked it, too, 'cuz the web sites said the the main reason you came back was to get your numbers up to a thousand humans and two thousand demons. They never said what ended up happening, so don't even ask me." I lowered my eyes again. "And also. . . I half think it's Naraku's fault I'm in the mess I'm in right now."

"What mess?" Bankotsu asked, sitting me down on a chair.

I totally shut my eyes this time, not wanting to even meet his. I _never_ told my real problems to people. I had just let that little bit slip out, and I was feeling like a damned fool for doing so. I knew he would never let up if I didn't tell him, though, so I plunged foreward.

"My mom's gone. I came downstairs almost a week ago and I heard her scream. I ran into the living room, but I couldn't find her. All there was in that room was Naraku, my mom's blood, and her wedding necklace." I fingered the choker that I handn't taken off since that faitfull night, and I felt my throat tighten up. "It was from my dad on their wedding night. She would never loose it, I know it, so I'm thinking that Naraku might have killed her."

"What about your father?"

"Who knows?" I whispered, clenching my hands into fists. "He left when I was, like, five or something. Anyway, I was in Kindergarden. Mom was always so sure he was alive and didn't leave us. I'm just now starting to think that she may have been right. That he may have been _lured_ away." I bowed my head, fighting the tears that were starting to form in my eyes. God, why were they coming _now_?! "I think. . . Well, Wolf-Demons can make a lot of enemies. And if that's true, he's dead. _Long_ dead, actually, since it was close to eight years ago."

Bankotsu didn't say anything. For once I was grateful for some silence. Then, after what seemed like forever, he said quietly:

"So you started to dress in black and hang out with weird people, right? After a while, it just became too much and you went totally weird."

"Yeah. A few years ago." I said, again not looking at him. It was true. None of the other kids had understood why I was always so out of it. So I had done the one thing I could think of. In the sixth grade, I had gotten a bunch of punk T-shirts and black and silver pants, and chopped my hair into a bob. Weird thing was, I was _happy_ that way. I mean, people looked at me and said I was a freak, with the amount of times I used temp. dye in my hair and all the heavy make-up I started to wear half-way through the seventh grade. People saw me and thought I was weird and somebody to be avoided. But for once in my life, I felt like_ me_. I didn't feel like those girly-girls who always wore bright colors. I was happy. The tops I wore made me feel _sexy_, and my friends, the first in my life who would alway stand by me, did the same. It probably helped that I had gotten my hair profesionally fixed, and I'd grown it out to just below my arm pits and I had really eased up on the cosmetics, but I felt _awesome_!

Then my eyes snapped to Bankotsu. I had almost forgotten who I was with. _What_ I was with. God, I had just spilled my heart out to an undead mercenary! What was wrong with me?!

"Right, well." I said, gaining complete control of my voice. "I think it's time for you to go now."

But the only thing the guy did was to jump up from his perch and stand right in front of me. He siezed my shoulders, making my arms tense up.

"You know," he murmered, pushing me back against the counter. "You're _really_ pretty, with or without all that makeup."

_What the heck is this guy doing? _I thought, looking at him uncomftorably.

"Thanks?" I said, the word coming out more of a question than a statement.

There was a fire burning in his eyes, and a deep want begining to brew on his mouth.

And suddenly, I knew what he was going to do. I tried to break away, but I was too close to my transformation, less than twenty-four hours, and the dude was just too strong. My upper thighs tightened, forcing my legs together. I guess that it was a natural reaction.

"Um. . . " I said. "Bankotsu? What're you-"

I never got to finsish that question, because right then and there, he brought his lips down onto mine. It was a rough, bruising kiss, formed entirely out of raw need and desire. It was almost like it wasn't even _me_ anymore, but some other girl. I mean, it was _me_, but the experience was like an out-of-body one, like I was in the movies watching Bankotsu kiss another girl who looked exactly like me.

And then I snapped. I didn't want him on me, I didn't _like_ him on me (that much. I mean, c'mon! I barely even knew the guy!) and I was determined to get him _off_ of me! I pushed him away as hard as I could, breaking the connection our lips had temporairly formed.

"What the fuck?!" I gasped as the same time as Koga shouted: "You get off of her!"

"Koga!" I said in relief as Bankotsu jumped away from me and, not even looking at Koga, walked down into my basement with Jakotsu close on his heels.

* * * * *

"Are you alright?" Koga asked for what seemed like the thousandth time.

I sighed. I was glad the guy was concerned and all, but enough was enough!

"Yes, Koga." I said patiently. "I'm fine." It had just been a very long day, and I told him so.

"You're worried about something." he said, displaying one of his rare signs of concern.

"Yeah. I, um, well, I turn into a human tomorrow night, is all." I told him. "My sense of smell and hearing has been regressing for the last couple days, and it's pretty nerveracking, but I'm used to it by now."

Koga started to laugh.

"Don't laugh." I muttered, sitting down on a log. We were back in the Feudal Era and walking through the woods. I had told Koga everything. Why I was alone, why I was a punk/goth/emo chick, everything. At least, everything I had let slip to Bankotsu. I guess I thought Koga deserved to know it I was going to be hanging around with him so often.

"I'm not laughing at you." he said, sitting down next to me. "I't just too funny! _That's _why you were having all those weird mood swings all week? Gods, we thought you were going through some kind of crisis! Look, I'm sure your mother is fine, your father may very well be alive, Ruby is right here with us, we've kept her very safe, and as for your transformation, don't you think we'll protect you? That you're close enough to us that we'd die for you?"

I closed my eyes and smiled gratefully. I rested my head against Koga's shoulder, suprised at how good it felt.

"Thank you." I whispered, enjoying the feeling of my cheek against the fur on his shoulder and the skin where my face touched. "You have no long I've waited to hear those words. Thank you so much, Koga."

"Yeah." he said, equally quiet, placing one hand on my left shoulder, not shaking me off or scolding me like I might have expected.

Of course, this was the real world, and it had to be interruped by an elderly wolf running almost silently into the clearing where the sun was just begining to set, casting a warm, welcoming glow on everything. I lifted my head up and Koga took his hand away from me.

"Koga." The wolf said in the Human language I'd been raised on. I felt my eyebrows rise. So he'd learned the gift of speech?

"Koga, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I have urgent news."

"Go ahead." Koga invited, standing up with me following suit. The Elder glanced thoughtfully at me before Koga said: "It's alright. She's with me."

The Elder nodded.

"Koga, it seems that the rumors are true. He did indeed have a child."

Koga raised his eyebrows, a dark shadow crossing his face.

"Who had a kid?" I asked, crossing my arms around my stomach.

"The original founder of the Wolf-Demon Tribe in our region." Koga muttered. "He took off a while ago with some woman, and ever since our tribe has been feuding over who gets to be the leader. I just recently took control with the Sacred Jewel Shards."

"Fourteen and a half years, to be exact." the Elder said.

"Fourteen and a half. . ." I repeated, biting my lip, suspicion coming over me like a dark clowd. "What did you say this guy's name was again?"

"Julian." The Elder told me. "His name was Julian."

Ohhh." I whispered, covering up my mouth and sinking back down onto the log.

"Susan?" Koga asked, looking at me in concern. "What's up? Does that name sound falmillar?"

"Well, it _should_." I said. Suddenly the golden meadow didn't have nearly as much as an apeal to me as it had just moments before. "I mean, my mother's been repeating that name for nearly a decade now. How could it _not_ sound famillar?"

"Susan?" Koga asked, his voice almost fearful. "What're you saying?"

"I never knew. . ." I whispered, the tears now coming from my eyes. "All this time and she never told me. . . I never bothered to ask. . .

"Koga, that name sure as hell means something to me." I sobbed, holding onto my knees. "'Cuz that was my father's name, Koga." I looked at the Elder. "Black hair to the center of his back with a purple streak in it, right? With green eyes that you just can't seem to forget no matter how hard you try?"

"Yes." The Elder said at the same time Koga said "Yeah."

"Oh, my God!" I gasped, shaking my head to rid it of all the memories of my father that had all of a sudden come rushing back. Of him holding me as a small baby. Of me flying over his head, me shrieking with laughter. A million memories that I had banished into the back of my head and refused to even look at. "Oh, my God." I repeated in a whisper. "Koga. . . I. . . I'm so sorry."

"Sorry for what?" he damanded, sitting down next to me and putting his arm around me again.

I shut off the water works.

"Sorry. . . Koga, think about it! This means that I have a blood claim! You know better than anybody how everyone else will see it!" It was true. Wolf-Demons have a very high regard for blood claims. If Julian. . . my father. . . admitted that I was his child _which he definately would_, then I was in the competition with Koga for the leader of the tribe, wether I wanted to be or not.

Koga was silent for a minute. But he didn't take his arm away.

"It doesn't matter." he said finally. "I don't care, and neither should you. Susan, look at me." he gently ordered, carefully cupping my face in his hands. "If it comes down to it, I'll willingly hand the position to you. But I really don't think that it will come down to that, alright? You have a blood claim. I'll respect that if you want me to, I really will. But don't you ever think that it'll change things between us. We're friends, and you know it. So stop worrying about it, okay?"

"Right." I whispered, pushing my fists to my chest. I closed my eyes and rested my forehead against Koga's shoulder. "Thank you." I added, hugging him like I would Derik or Tyler. Like a brother or a friend. Somebody who I just couldn't believe I'd gotten through life so far without.

I felt Koga nod against my back and he gently squeezed me back.

_God._ I thought, _This is just like one of the thousands of hugs I've gotten from the guys. But then why does it feel so different? Why do I feel like my heart is soaring through the sky? I'm not sure, but God, I could just stay here like this forever and not move one muscle. _

After a while, we broke apart.

"You okay?" Koga asked, tapping me on the shoulder.

"Yup." I answered, leaning back. Then something clicked. "Hey, why doesn't Julian. . . er. . . my father. . . take the position for himself?"

"He doesn't want it." The Elder said instantly. I felt my face heating up, and I didn't know why. The whole _school_ had seen me hugging Tyler and Derik, for crying out loud! "He says it's time for somebody new to come into power. Er, Susan, did you say your name was?"

"Yeah." I said, looking at him.

"Your father would like to see you. He said that if we should come across his daughter, he would very much like to meet with her."

I nodded, suddenly determined.

"Yeah, I'll see him." I said in a strong voice. "I'll meet with him, alright. And when I do, I'm going to make him tell me why he left me and my mom eight years ago! He at least owes me an explanation, God dammit!"

**End Chapter**

I hope you people are happy! I stayed up very late all week to finish this baby! I've been falling asleep on the bus, in chorus, and in algebra because I'm just so wiped from typing so late at night and thinking so hard! Right now it's 9:30 on the night before Halloween, and I'm going to regret staying up this late tomorrow night, I just know it!

One the upside, I really think this thing is coming along pretty well. Things are starting to fall into place, and my dark family history is starting to be revealed. Bankotsu was kinda' a jerk in this chapter, and I'm sorry, I love him too, but I really wanted a cute part with me and Koga in it and the bit about my dad, and I really didn't see any other way to do it!

Anyway, this has been a concern amongst my friends, and I guess some people are pretty concerned too, so let me get my _reality_ straight. As far as I know, my parents are both human. I do cook for myself sometimes, but it's not that often, and usually it's because my mom's seeing the lawyer about her divorce with my dad. Yes, my parents are divorcing, but really, it's not the end of the world. I don't have a well leading to the Feudal Era of Japan in my basement, and I do not have sugar runs with my friends at my house.

Just for the record, some of my characters are based on real people. One of my BFF's Kayla asked to be Ellie, and she's the one who came up with the idea of Pizlop, so don't give me any grief about making fun of her or anything, because she's actually really smart. MacKenzie is based on a girl I used to know and hate. She was insane, but we never got into a fight and I don't want anybody thinking that I did. Ruby's personality is based of of one of my BFF's Tesla. She's always concerned about me, and I love that! I just wanted to have a wolf, so I mixed some ideas about Ruby with Tess, and this is the end result! Vivi, Tyler, Taylor, and Derik are just figments of my immaningation, but Heidi is based of from my friends from swim team mixed together. I wasn't sure what to name her, so I hit the book shelf looking for names. I finally settled on the book _Hitler's Daughter._ The plot is that the one girl, Ana, is telling a story about Hitler's supposed daughter, Heidi. Heidi is a sweet little girl, and I love the personalitly about her, so I named my character Heidi after Heidi Hitler (she doesn't exist, and I'm fully aware that all of that sounds fairly twisted.) Oh, before I forget, Derik's name I pulled from the book Project 17, one of my all-time favorite ghost story books. Derik is my favorite guy character. Vivi's name is pulled from the Ya Ya books, since Vivi is my fav. original Ya Ya! Actually, the twins are the only ones that I _didn't_ get from somewhere or another


	3. A Kidnapping

* * * * *

Susan

* * * * *

"You okay?" Koga asked, tapping me on the shoulder.

"Yup." I answered, leaning back. Then something clicked. "Hey, why doesn't Julian. . . er. . . my father. . . take the position for himself?"

"He doesn't want it." The Elder said instantly while I blushed like crazy because he'd seen me hug Koga. "He says it's time for somebody new to come into power. Er, Susan, did you say your name was?"

"Yeah." I said, looking at him.

"Your father would like to see you. He said that if we should come across his daughter, he would very much like to meet with her."

I nodded, suddenly determined.

"Yeah, I'll see him." I said in a strong voice. "I'll meet with him, alright. And when I do, I'm going to make him tell me why he left me and my mom eight years ago! He at least owes me an explanation, God dammit!"

* * * * *

As it turned out, I would have to wait a long time to meet my father. I _very_ long time. The Elder told me that he would have to go back to the Southern Region where Julian. . . my father. . . was so he could tell him that I was alive and would meet with him. And then he would have to track me down again so he could tell me the news and get a date and time from me. After that, the Elder would have to run back to the south to cross-check it with Julian. . . Dad?. . . and come back to pick me up if it would be a good time. If it wouldn't, then off he would go again to tell me when Julian. . . Daddy?. . . could meet me. And then I would have to make the actual journey itself from where ever I was to where Julian. . .God dammit, why couldn't I decide on something to call him?!. . . to where he was.

_Kinda a lot of running for such an old wolf_. I thought as he ran off into the distance. Then I sighed and sank down onto a log, completely spent. All of my sudden spunk was gone, replaced with even more exhaustion then before. I'd had worse, thought. There had been nights, particulary the ones of the half-way waned moon, where my head spun and the back of my skull pounded like a jackhammer whenever I stood up or moved but I didn't dare to sleep, lest some demon found and tried to kill me.

Koga didn't seem to be aware of this fact that I had less than a few minutes of sleep once every month.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "Do you need anything?"

I knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to make me forget that we were now technically in competition to be the leader of the Wolf-Demon Tribe. I forced out a laugh.

"Yeah. I need a giant cup of mocha, my mom to be back, animals to stop speaking English, and this whole nightmare to be over." then I sighed. "Damn, why can't things just be normal around me? Why is it always _me_ who all the weird things happen to? Why not Ellie or Heidi or Derik or Taylor for once? It's _my_ life that's all fucked up and nobody even knows the half of what's going on. I _know_ what happens to Derik and the others, but I can _never_ tell them what happens to me!"

I hadn't meant to tell him that much. In fact, I had planned to stop at "and this whole nightmare to be over.", but sometimes things just slip out to people I barely know. It happens on the Internet, at school (though nobody really listens to me there), when I'm just talking to Ruby, and now apparently guys I just met less than a week ago.

"Huh? You lost me." Koga admitted, crossing his arms.

I groaned.

"You don't _want_ to know what I mean." I told him.

"Great! I would have just walked away if you hadn't gotten _that_ far! So now will you tell me what's up?"

"It's not a story I like to. . . I mean, it's really long and you'd probably get really bored anyway. Besided, why do you care about what happened to me when I was a kid? It's not like it's really any of your buisness, right?"

Koga growled in exhasperation.

"Look, I'm not sure how to say this, but I think I might be taking a liking to you. So would you just hurry up and tell the damn story already?!"

I looked down at the ground.

"I don't know why you're so damn determined to find out, but if you really want to know, then I guess it's your own choice.

"I guess it all began before I was born. . ."

* * * * *

Koga

* * * * *

Susan may have been a half-demon and technically my rival, but when that girl got to telling a story, it was like nothing else existed. It was a little weird at first, looking at her there with her eyes shut as though to block out any other sight but the one playing in her mind's eye, but after a few minutes, I wasn't looking at Susan anymore. I was seeing everything happening before me as thought I was _there_ with everything happening.

Before I knew it, nothinng else existed but a young sorceress called Taylor and the original young leader of the Wolf-Demon tribe that I now led. At first Susan was saying things like "I guess it all began before I was born." But then it just transformed to like it was Taylor and Julian talking.

"My mom used to tell me a story. I never believed it, since it just sounded too extraordinary, but now I'm starting to wonder. . ."

* * * * *

Taylor

* * * * *

Ever since I was a young girl I've known that I posessed supernatural powers.

They could never be compared to the conrtolled, pure powers of a priest or priestess. It was more like witch craft or the dark arts. My powers had always been tainted. And for that, the villagers hated me. They called me a curse. A mistake. A flaw in the natural order of things. Even my own mother hated my very existance.

My grandmother didn't, though. She always loved me.

Grandma used to tell me stories about her old country. Of the land flowing rich with peace. Where people like me could hide their abnormalities and never be found out. She said that girls were starting up a revolution so they could be equal to men. She told me that women could wear pants and not get in trouble, and they didn't have to stay silent and submissive all of the time. And that girls could learn what I'd always yearned for. To learn to read.

My mother used to call her a crazy old fool. That she'd gone to sleep one night and never left her dreams. But she was wrong. I'd seen the truth in Grandma's eyes. Such a place really did exist.

When I tried to picture it, though, I just never could get it right. I never could fully picture girls in the comfy blue pants that were called "Jeans" and a world where young women wore their hair short and bobbed. Eventually, I just say a bunch of kids like me. Kids who were different and strange. I tried to see girls reading what were called books, and boys allowing it, I really did. I think I may have come close. But I was never fully satisfied with what I saw.

It all happened one day when I was out in the fields.

My mother had sent me out of the village to gather flowers. I was a young girl at sixteen, but like my mother, I had a very womanly figure. Because of always being told to stay silent and to follow instructions without question, I was very soft-spoken. You could hardly ever hear me talk, and I knew that the other girls didn't have it half as hard as I did. If I made one unnecessary peep, my parents would yell and scream themselves horse.

Anyhow, Mother needed flowers to give to my father for their anniversery, and she was too busy cooking and cleaning house to even thing of pretting the house up a bit, so she had sent me out deep into the woods to where the nicest flowers were.

I was free in the woods. I could sing and dance and nobody could tell me to be silent or to stay still and hurry up with my task.

Laughing, I danced around the patch of flowers, smiling and plucking them neatly out of the ground. My Kimono was billowing out around me, and my clear voice sang secret tunes that only I knew. Of course, my moment of freedom and glory could not last.

At that moment, a Worm-Demon rose up above the bushes, towering above my head and looking down at me literally the way you would look at a steak. "I thought I heard a human around here!" he announced, rearing up.

_Oh, Gods. . ._ I thought in dispair, staring up at the beast.

"G-go away, Demon!" I shouted, showing much more confidence than I felt. "My father is just off in the forest hunting. The instant I scream, he will come running and he shall kill you for trying to harm me!"

To my dismay, the demon just started to laugh.

"Your father is not near. Nobody is!" he announced, crawling closer to me. Still clutching the flowers, I backed up and promptly tripped over a loose root behind me, twisting my ankle. My arms flew out around me, and I screamed as I fell to the ground. Looking up, I saw in the demon's eyes that he was going to eat me. There was no mercy in those cold, black eyes of his. He was hungry, and I was meerly a meal to keep him alive.

The Worm-Demon lunged at me! I screamed again and rolled out of his way, nearly avoiding being grabbed up by his grasping hands!

"Oh, Gods, help me!" I cried out as the Demon turned my way.

At that moment, though, a figure came running out of the woods. With one, two, _three_ kicks to the demon's fat midsection, he tore open it's belly and sent it hurling into the distance. Then he turned to face me, and I gasped.

Another Demon!

This one was what I had heard the villagers gossiping about but had never seen before. A Demon that appeared as a Human. This young man, thought incredibly handsome and amazing, was no different. His finger nails were sharpened into claws, and his ears were pointed like a wolf's. I had known that there was a newly-forming tribe of Wolf-Demons nearby, but I never thought that I would come into contact with one.

I let out a whimper of fear. This was very bad. If this Demon was hungry, then I was lunch.

* * * * *

Julian

* * * * *

There was no doubt about it, this Human girl was beautiful. There was some kind of aura about her that would repell humans, and my first thought was that she was some kind of sorceress. But looking at her, there was no kind of evil in her eyes, just fear and lonelyness.

"P-please don't eat me," she whispered, still on her butt and trying to scoot away. "I-I don't think I'd taste very good."

It took me a moment to track what she was saying. There were some Wolf-Demons who ate humans, thought I'd never really liked the taste myself. I laughed.

"Don't worry about it." I told her, reaching my hand down to help her up. "I don't think you'd taste very good, either. I've never really liked the taste of Humans, to tell you the truth."

The girl forced a smile and reached up to take my hand. I pulled her to her feet, but she instantly began to fall back down.

"Yaaah!" she screamed as I caught her. "O-Oh! T-thanks!"

"Are you alright?" I asked, surveying her closely.

"I-I think I twisted my ankle when I fell." she admitted as I sat her down on a rock. "Hey, that's two times that you've saved me, huh?"

"Sure. I guess so." I said. "Here, how about I help you back to your village-"

"NO!" she cried, shocking me. "No, no, NO! _Very_ bad idea! My parents will _kill_ me for hurting myself!"

"But it's not your fault." I said, frowning.

"I know. But you think my parents will see it that way? My mother will say that I deliberately hurt myself to get out of helping around the house, and my father's going to think that I'm making it all up! I _can't_ go back home with my ankle like this! Besides, my village _hates_ demons! They see me walking up with you helping me, they're going to freak! They get any more dirt on me, they're going to banish me. They already think I'm causing the rice to fail and my neighbor's pigs to die. Gods, they think I actually know how to control my powers!"

I frowned.

"So what're you going to do?" I asked the girl, crossing my arms.

"I. . .I don't know." she said, not meeting my eyes. "I really don't know."

We were silent for a few minutes. Then I said rather aquwardly:

"Hey, I don't even know your name. Mine's Julian."

The girl smiled at me.

"I'm Taylor." she said, pulling her ankle onto her lap so she could survey the damage.

"Tay-lor?' I asked, trying the strange word out. "That's a strange name." I said, kneeling down and taking her foot so I could see for myself. "Ouch. That's going to bruise up nicely."

"Yeah." she said, wincing as I felt her ankle, looking for broken bones. "I thought so. And as for my name, my grandmother named me. Now _she_ got a freaky name. _Her_ name is Nicole. And she has people call her Nickey."

I laughed again.

"That _is_ a weird name." I said, looking around and grabbing up some long leaves. "Tell you what. Since I can't take you back home, I'll at least bandage this sucker up for you so you can walk. Sound good?"

"Sure." Taylor said, watching me with interest as I wrapped the leavees tightly around her foot and ankle. "You know, you're awful nice for a demon." she added lightly.

I frowned.

"You think so?" I asked.

"Yeah. I mean, how many other demons would help me out like this? I sure haven't heard any stories of guys like you."

"I guess you're right." I admitted with a sigh. "Damn, I need to toughen up if I'm going to keep my title."

"Your title?"

"Yeah. I just happened to found the Wolf-Demon Tribe in this area." I tole her, tying up the leaves.

Taylor stared at me.

"_What?!_ But you're my age! And the amount of Wolf-Demons in this area is huge! How did you. . ."

"You just have to know how to say things right." I told her, helping her to gather up the flowers she'd dropped.

We didn't say anything for a long time. But when Taylor had enough flowers, she turned to look at me, a pleading expression in her eyes.

"Hey, Julian? Can I see you again? It gets pretty lonely in the village when everybody hates you for living."

I looked at her. At her flawless skin and her beautiful blue eyes. Her hair was blond and curly. It was so unlike anything else I'd ever seen. I felt my heart rising in my throat. She was so young and vulnerable.

"Sure." I said, trying to keep a neutral voice. "If you want to."

Taylor looked like she could have kissed me then and there.

* * * * *

Koga

* * * * *

"What happened next?" I asked as Susan's voice trailed off and the images vanished from my mind.

She shrugged.

"Taylor and Julian kept seeing eachother for another year. Eventually, Taylor's parents found out. They were livid. I think they would have killed her if her grandmother hadn't stepped in and stole her away. She told Taylor to run away from the village as fast as she could. She told her to get Julian and find a dry well at the base of the mountains. She said to jump in. She gave her a letter to read once they climbed back out." Susan smiled. "She'd tought Taylor how to read in secret. Once they got to the other side, Taylor read the letter about the new time she was in. She thought it was insane."

I felt a small smile playing on my face.

"So they eloped?" I asked, enjoying the thought.

"Yep. After about a month, they got married, and a year later, Taylor got pregnant for me." Susan's face became relaxed. "A lot has changed. Woman have equal legal rights as men, even thougth most people are still really sexist. But people don't believe in demons anymore, at least not the real kind. So it was easier for me to blend in."

"And nobody ever knew that you're a half-Demon?" I asked, shocked.

At that, Susan scowled.

"Yeah. One person figured out the truth. The Crazy Cat Lady. Her husband and kids were killed by starving Wolf-Demons, and she hates us. She always seemed to hold a grudge against my family. She's always calling us into the cops and she shouts all this rude, vulgur stuff at me." Susan grinned. "I get my revenge, though. I Silly-Stringed her house last Halloween and ditched the cans in her backyard. I word gloves, too, so they couldn't trace any finger prints back to me. You should have heard her shout in the morning! The lady was _livid_! Her cats were even going nuts! She blamed me, of course, but nobody could ever prove it, and I don't even think the cops really followed up on it. They probably figured it was about time I did something back at the old hag."

I pictured a crazy old lady surrounded by cats, shouting her head off because the goopy stuff that Susan had called "Silly String" was coating her house and yard. The lady and cats looked like they were singing in a chorus. I laughed out loud.

"I can picture that." I said through the laughter. "I can picture that very clearly."

Susan smiled, a deep exhaustion begining to bulid behind her eyes.

"Yeah. Koga, I'm going to bed, alright? It's been a long day, and I'm not going to sleep tomorrow night."

With that, she began the walk to the abandoned cabin that we had found.

I followed her, trying to spark a conversation.

"So. . . Do you have any friends back home?"

"Yeah. There's Ellie; she's the one whose penguin named Pizlop is her brain. Tyler and Taylor are twins, and Ty's gay. He's so fuckin' funny!" I saw tears in her eyes. "Heidi's like our shrink cuz we're always unloading ourselves on her. And Derik's the awesome guy. He's like my brother." Her voice trailed off. "I wonder..."

"What?" I asked, looking down at her.

"I wonder if I'll ever see them again. If I get this position, I might never. . . I might never get to go back home. . ."

_Bad topic_ I thought, wincing at my own blunder.

"You'll get to see them again!" I said bracingly, wrapping my arm around her. "Gods, what would _keep_ you from seeing them?"

Susan smiled. She didn't call my bluff, but she should have. She knew as well as I did that it would be years before she could even _think_ about going back.

_Humans._ I thought ruefully. _You go away for a while and they totally forget about you! Poor kid. _I added in thought, cocking my head. _She's still so young, but she's got to deal with all of this bull crap. _

It was rediculious to land all of this on somebody so young. I mean, she was even young by human standards! In our terms, she was a baby. I would never get how she was so. . . well. . . _womanly_, let's say.

I didn't realize when we got to the cabbin until we were walking up some steps and Susan was leaning up against me, her head against my chest and her eyes drooping with exhaustion.

"Hey, Koga?" she asked drowsily, her head falling onto my knee.

"Yeah, what?" I demanded, a little more than peeved out that she was leaning against me like that.

"You smell really nice." she said quietly. "Like the forest and wolves. I like it."

I didn't say anything for a while, until she started talking again.

"Hey, Koga?"

"What now?" I asked without any real annoyance in my voice.

"I think I like you." she admitted, and her head grew a little more heavy against me. "You're not such a bad guy, you know that?" she added before her breathing became even and her shoulders became relaxed.

"_What_?!" I demanded in a whisper, looking down at the sleeping girl. I didn't even come close to waking her, but I was worried that I might have. She moaned slightly and turned over, settling her head against my hip bone.

"Okay," I said uncomftorably, shifting a bit. Damn, the girl was out cold! "Time to move." I continued uselessly, pickng her up and settling her into the "sleeping bag" that she had brought along.

I tried to drift off myself, but thanks to Susan's help, my brain was buzzing with activity.

_I think I like you._ She'd said. _You're not such a bad guy, you know that?_

_I think I like you. You're not such a bad guy._

_You're not such a bad guy._

_I think I like you._

_I like you._

_You know that?_

No matter how many times I turned the words around in my head, they still said the same thing. But my question was this: Did she like me as just a friend, or did she like me as a male? Because if it was the latter, then there was bound to be trouble.

A thousand possibilites and scenarios played out in my head while I took off my chest plate, trying to get more comftorable.

Maybe she _did _like me.

Maybe _I_ liked _her._

Maybe _she_ liked me but _I_ didn't like her back.

Could it be that _I_ liked _her_ but _she_ only liked me as a friend?

Was it that we were just friends?

What would Kagome say?

Damn, what would _Hakkaku and Ginta _say? In fact, where in hell _were_ Hakkaku and Ginta? I hadn't seen them since I'd left for Susan's time when I'd smelled that filthy bastard Bankotsu in her well, meaning that he was in her house.

_They probably thougth that we'd want some privacy, the idiots._ I thought in disgust, not even being able to summon up the energy to roll my eyes. I slumped down against the wall, and was soon consumed with confusing dreams involving Susan, Bankotsu, kisses, and talking penguins and brainless girls.

* * * * *

Susan

* * * * *

I woke up in the middle of the night with my teeth chattering and the rest of me in no better shape. When had it gotten so _cold_ during the night?!

Still shivering, I looked over at Koga and was mildly amused to see him in the exact same condition that I was in.

"C-c-c-cold enough f-f-f-for ya'?" I asked, forcing a smile.

Koga nodded once, and gestured across the cabbin at Hakkau and Ginta, who'd snuck in sometime during the night. They were cruled up next to each other, back to back and shaking like I would if a volcano was about to blow it's top. Smiling through lips that I was sure were blue, I took a couple of my larger and heavier blankets from my bag and draped them over the boys' sleeping forms.

Then, taking the rest of the blankets, I walked over to Koga and gave him a couple, meaning to keep the last for myself. Still trembling from the sudden chill, he shook his head and motioned for me to lay down next to him.

I'm sure, that as I lowered myself down, that the conflicts taking place behind my eyes was evident.

On one hand, I really wanted to sleep next to him. He was so sexy for one thing, and I would probably warm up faster if I was curled up next to somebody anyway, preferably if, as I'd told him when we got in, that somebody_ smelled nice _and I _liked them_.

On the other, while I really didn't think that he'd try anything, I was wary of the contact that _would_ occur, unleashing a new shiver of what could happen if we lost ourselves. I was _not_ ready for a kid yet!

But, as I decided in the heat of the moment (so to speak, since there _was _no heat) I didn't really want to freeze, and neither, I was sure, did Koga. I pulled my pillow over along with the sleeping bag and unzipped it so we wouldn't be sleeping on a cold floor.

"Here." I offered, motioning for him to lay down on the blanketed side, having turned the shiny blue half to face the floor.

"G-g-good thinking." he aknowledged, moving to the far end on his side so I could curl up against his chest.

I smiled at the compliment and nodded in thanks, laying where I was sure he intended for me to sleep and pulling the heavy blankets up over us. Ruby slinked over to join us, laying down against my stomach and growling deep in her throat from the sudden heat.

As we started to warm up and I could talk without stammering, I asked Koga something I normally wouldn't have asked so late at night.

"Koga?" I murmered, keeping my voice low so I didn't wake Ginta and Hakkaku.

"Hmmm?" He asked, already drowsy.

"How come you came back to my time?"

Sighing, he gently, almost timidly, put his arm around my waist to draw me in closer.

"I was worried." he admitted as Ruby snuggled up closer to me. "I could smell those dead men, and I thought that you were in danger. I guess you weren't" He added with a growl in his voice. "But can you really blame me for worrying when you know their story?"

I shuddered, remembering Bankotsu's reputation of killing without a care in the world and Jakotsu's ugly history of slicing men he thought were cute into pieces while claiming that he loved them.

"Not really." I said, wrapping my arms around Ruby. "I'm just glad that you came when you did. The guy was really creeping me out. I think my lips are still bruised, but I really can't tell that well."

Koga seemed to take comfort in this, and he pulled me even closer.

"Do you like him?" he asked suddenly as I rested my head against his muscled chest.

"Hm? Who? Bankotsu?" I asked, not really caring. "Kinda'. I mean, he's really cute, and he can be nice when he wants to be, but in reality? I never get the boy for one thing, and for the other, I really don't think I'd want to go out with him since he's such a jerk. Why do you ask?"

"It's just my responsibility to make sure you're safe." Koga answered gruffly. "You're part of the pack now, so I've got to look out for you. We all care for one another."

"That's nice." I murmered. I started to hum _Dreaming of You_ by Selena, which was my personal lullaby.

"What're you doing?" Koga asked.

"Oh, sorry." I appologized. "Am I keeping you up? Sorry, it's just kinda' the song I use when I'm trying to get back to sleep."

"No. . ." Koga whispered, snuggling me so close I could feel his collarbone and ribs. Holy shit, when had the dude taken the armor off?! "Keep going. I like it. . ." and with me humming away and the warmth of a each other surrounding us, Koga, Ruby, and I soon dozed back off.

* * * * *

"Thanks, Sis." Ginta said the next morning, handing my blankets back to me. "I think you saved our lives last night."

"Ah." I said, turning red and quickly putting them away. "It was nothing. I actually brought them back to share with you guys. I kinda' guessed that you wouldn't really have anything very warm for nights."

"So-o" Hakkaku said, sidling up to me. "You slept next to Koga last night?"

I groaned. I wasn't going to hear the end of _this_ for a long time!

"Yes." I sighed. "I did sleep next to Koga last night, but nothing happened, and like Ginta said really, what were we supposed to do, freeze to death?"

The boys sighed.

"Darn." Ginta pouted.

"It'd have been so cool if we were the ones to report a scandal." Hakkaku added, copying Ginta's expression.

I laughed.

"Well, sorry to be such a fun-sucker." I said, swinging my bag over my shoulder.

"Hey." Koga greeted, walking into the newly cleaned hut. "I found some hot-springs nearby. They're seperated by these giant boulders."

"Oh!" I gasped, still chilled from the night before. "I think I need to take a bath!"

"Me, too!" Hakkaku said.

"Me three!" Ginta added.

Koga laughed.

"Well, count me in." he said, grinning at us like the lunatics we were.

Laughing, I grabbed up my warmest clothes (A black turtle-neck, a blood-red sweater, a sliver vest, and by heavest jeans), a towl, my icy shampoo and conditioner, and a blanket and followed Koga to the springs.

Koga was right in the sense that the springs were divided by towering boulders, so the guys left me to my own devices and left for the other side of the almost bubbling water. Trembling, I unbuttoned my shirt and wrapped my blanket tightly around me while I took the rest of my pajamas and underwear off. I didn't even bother with walking in, but just dropped the blanket and jumped into the water in one fluid motion. On the other side of the make-shift wall, I heard the guys pretty much doing the same thing. I dipped my bottles in the thaw out the liquids inside, and just stood there against some rocks, up nose-deep in hot water and loving every minute of it.

"Oh, wow." I whispered, enjoying the tingling if my feet and hands.

"Enjoying yourself?" Koga called over.

"Definately!" I shouted back. "I never want to leave it feels so nice! God, this is better than my bathtub at home!"

The guys laughed and I started to use my shampoo, feeling more alive than I had in ages.

* * * * *

"Your hair smells different." Koga told me that afternoon as snow started to fall. "Not bad, just different. What'd you put in it?"

"Huh?" I asked, pulling over a lock and sniffing it myself. "I don't know. Maybe I used my mom's Suave instenad of my VO5? I'm really not sure."

Koga nodded and frowned as he took a step foreword. He, Hakkaku, and Ginta had been pretty much forced to put on the fur leggings and coats that they were carrying around with them, and they weren't quite used to the feeling of the pants yet.

"How do you _deal_ with these thing?" Hakkaku asked, pulling at a loose thread in his.

I laughed.

"You learn." I chuckled, shaking my head at the foolish wolf.

Ginta was looking at my jeans, a suddenly quizical look on his face.

"_Those_ look even more uncomftorable than these things." he said. "What _are_ they?"

I groaned.

"For your information, they're very comftorable since they're American Rag brand, and they're called jeans."

"They're so tight." Hakkaku commented, pinching some of the fabric at my butt.

"Hands off, you pervert!" I ordered, slapping his wrist and thinking that was the end of it. But at the same time, I heard a savage growl, and Koga was _right there,_ pinning Hakkaku to a tree by his throat and his claws starting to dig into his throat.

"Don't. Touch. Her." he growled, baring his fangs.

"Whoa!" I said, trying to calm him down. "Koga! Dude! Chill!"

Koga didn't seem to have the patience to calm down at that moment, but he _did_ release Hakkaku and let him crumple to the ground.

"Koga!" I scolded, planting my hands on my hips. "That was hardly necessary!"

Koga gave me a funny look.

"I didn't think girls liked having their butts pinched." he muttered, looking away.

I grimaced.

"Koga, I was handling it, okay? You don't need to come rushing to my defence _every time _some guy gets a little close to me." I frowned. "Though last night I could hardly blame you." I thought for a second. "Hey, did I ever thank you for that? For saving me from that murderous, brain-muddling jerk Bankotsu? Cuz if I didn't, then thank you."

Koga looked away, a blush rising on his face.

"Like I said, it was my responsibility."

_Like hell, it was his responsibility._ I thought rolling my eyes. _Honestly, any one of my friends are better liars than Koga!_

Then I smiled. Who cared if he was lying? Why he was lying to me, I couldn't be quite sure, but honestly, I didn't care. The feeling of his chest on my back was still burning on my flesh, and I wasn't about to freeze that night.

That night. . .

"Oh! Oh, I forgot!" I gasped, covering my mouth in horror.

"What?" Koga asked, looking at me in concern.

"I turn into a human tonight! I totally forgot!" I gasped. "Dammit! Of all nights to change!"

Koga laughed.

"Is that all? You had me worried." he said, clapping me on the back. "Don't worry. We'll protect you from the boogey men."

I looked up nervously with only my eyes.

"Really?" I asked, biting my lip. "Are. . . are ya' sure you want to? You don't mind?"

"Nah." Koga said. "We'll just do tonight what we did last night. I'll be so alert that a mouse on the other side of the field will wake me up!" he boasted, slamming his fist onto his chest.

"If you say so." I teased, giving him a sneaky smile. It was impossible to stay annoyed at Koga.

* * * * *

Koga

* * * * *

The half-Demon Susan was cute, but the human her wasn't too bad, either.

In the flash of light when the sun set, a very different girl stood before me.

This girl was blond with blue eyes. Her wolf ears were gone, replaced by human ears. Her claws receded into her hands, and somehow her eyes were softer, making her look fourteen for a change instead of twice of that. Actually, I knew that Susan _was_ fourteen, a strange anamoly in half-Demons, to actually _look_ one's actual age.

So this cute half-demon girl who no longer looked like a half-demon was looking at me nervously as though I was going to say something like:

"You're so weird. Get the hell away from me!"

Instead, I said in a very calm voice:

"Okay. So what were you so worried about?"

Susan smiled nervously.

"Honestly? I'm not really sure." she admitted. "Kinda' weird, huh?"

I nodded. Why on earth was she so freaked?

* * * * *

Bankotsu

* * * * *

I had to restrain myself very hard when Susan started sleeping next to Koga. _Very _hard.

And that night with the talking wolf and all that talk about Susan's father, well, I think that I almost exploded. He was _hugging_ her?! Who did that wolf think he was, touching _my_ woman like that?! Alright, I guess it had been a little creepy on my part to go and kiss her like I did, but that didn't mean that she had to go and cuddle up to somebody like Koga or. . . or go pressing flesh with him! And what had all that about Susan having some kind of _blood claim_ mean? Was she next in line to rule the Wolf-Demon Tribe or something? I didn't know, and frankly I didn't really care at the moment. The only thing that mattered to me was getting Koga away from Susan so I could talk to her for a minute. Or go with plan B.

"Jakotsu." I muttered, looking on at the nervous human girl who had been a half-demon a few minutes before hand. "You know what to do."

"Aw." Jakotsu whined, pouting his highly-glossed lips. "Why do _I_ have to do it, Bankotsu? Why not Renkotsu or Suikotsu?"

"'Cause I don't trust Baldy, and Suikotsu's that annoying doctor again. Renkotsu's trying to wake him up, but I want this done as soon as possible. So go, or I'll take away your Jakotsuto for a week."

Jakotsu pouted for another few seconds, but then he heaved a great sigh and pushed himself up.

"I guess there's no choice. Hey, maybe I'll get to see my InuYasha again, huh, Bankotsu!?" he asked, jogging off.

I rolled my eyes and focused on the Wolf-Demons again. I ground my teeth when, without any hesitation tonight, Susan and Koga got under the blankets that Susan carried around with her again and Susan actually rested her head agianst that damn wolf's shoulder.

_Just calm down for a minute, Ban._ I told myself. _It'll all be over in an hour. Just hang in there for a bit longer._

I took a few deep breaths. Didn't work. I clenched my fists almost until my finger nails punctured my skin and the pain _did_ focus me enough that I could hear Susan and Koga's whispered converstion.

"So. How do you like being human?"

Susan groaned.

"What do you think? It sucks. I hate it. I'm so weak. . ."

In the light of the fire that they'd actually bothered to make tonight, the girl's face glowed a cheery orange, thought her expression was anything but happy.

"Sorry." Koga whispered, tightening his arm around her waist. "Hey, do you think you could do that song again? It's really pretty."

"What, _Dreaming of You_?" Susan asked, her expression softening. "Um. . . how about I do _Both Sides Now_?"

"Is it nice?"

"It's my other sleeping song." Susan whispered, her pretty little lips spreading into a pleasured smile.

"M'kay." Koga murmered. "But sing the words."

"'Kay." Susan answered, taking a breath. I noticed that the other two Demons moved in a little closer.

Bows and flows of angel hair,

And ice cream castles in the air.

And feathered canyons everywhere,

I've looked at clowds that way.

But now they only block the sun.

They rain and snow on everyone.

So many things I could have done.

But clowds got in my way.

I've looked at clowds from both sides now,

From up and down and still somehow,

It's clowd's illustions I recall,

I really don't know clowds. . .

At all.

Moons and Junes and ferris wheels

The dizzy dancing way you feel

As every fairy tale comes true.

I've looked at love that way.

But now it's just another show.

You leave 'em laughin' when you go.

And if you care, don't let them know.

Don't give yourself away.

I've lookd at love from both sides now,

From give and take, and still somehow,

It's love's illusions I recall,

I really don't know love. . .

At all.

Tears and fears and feelin' proud,

To say 'I love you!" right out loud!

Dreams and schemes and circus crowds,

I've looked at life that way.

But now old friends are acting strange.

They shake their heads,

They said 'I've changed.'

Well, something's lost, but something's gained

In living every day.

I've looked at life from both sides now,

From win and loose, and still somehow,

It's life's illusions I recall.

I really don't know life. . .

At all.

The forest seemed to quiet down as Susan's sweet, quiet, melodic alto voice somehow echoed through the clearing. Even I stopped breating. Somehow those simple lyrics hit home with me.

"Another song." A very drowsy Koga whispered, pulling her in even closer in the cold winter air. "Sing another, Suze."

Susan nodded and thought for a minute.

"Oh, I've got a really good one!" She announced, smiling.

How bout't a round of applause?

Ye-eah.

Standin' ovation.

Ooooo-whooa, yeah.

Yeah-eah-eah-eah-eah.

You look so dumb right now.

Standin' outside my house.

Trying to appologize, you're so ugly when you cry,

Please. Just cut it out.

Don't tell me you're sorry cuz' you're not,

Baby, when I know you're only sorry you got caught.

But you put on quite a show-ow,

Really had me goin',

But now it's time to go

Curtain's finally closin'

That was quite a show.

Very entertainin'

But it's over now.

(But it's over now.)

Go on and take a bow.

Grab your clothes and get gone

(Get gone, get gone)

You better hurry up before the sprinklers come on.

Talkin' 'bout 'girl, I love you, you're the one.

This just looks like I re-run'.

Please,

What else is on?

Don't tell me you're sorry cuz' you're not,

Baby, when I know you're only sorry you got caught.

But you put on quite a show-ow,

Really had me goin',

But now it's time to go

Curtain's finally closin'

That was quite a show.

Very entertainin'

But it's over now.

(But it's over now.)

Go on and take a bow.

Oh, when the

Award for

The best of life

Goes to you

(goes to you)

Formakin' me

That you

could be

_faithfill_ to me,

let's hear your speeches. . .

She kept on like that for a while, singing the rest of the song and putting the boys to sleep and then, after a few minutes, she fell out, too.

* * * * *

Susan'

* * * * *

It seemed that I had just fallen asleep when I was awakened by the howling of wolves in the distance. Koga had just pushed himself up, his arm around my waist falling away.

"Wha?" I asked, still in my strange dream about me in a pink dress at homecoming on a double-date with me and Koga along with Tyler and Jakotsu. "Wassgoinon?" I demanded, meaning to say "What's going on?"

"The wolves." Koga muttered, shivering despite the fur pants and the heat from the fire. "They're in trouble. We've got to go and. . .But you can't. . . Hakkaku! Ginta! With me! Susan, I really hate to do this, but you'll have to stay here by yourself for a while. It won't be too long, so just stay here with the fire. I'm sure it's nothing, but we've still got to go and check it out."

"Right." I said, a little resentful that despite the face I was human, he was still leaving my behind. "Well, I won't totally be _alone_." I added, my voice praticaly layered with irony. "I've still got Ruby with me."

"Susan. . ." Koga said gently, moving toward me.

"Just go." I ordered, shaking my head. Then, worried that I'd been a little _too_ harsh, I added gently: "And you'd better hury back, got it?"

Koga nodded and turned around.

"Hey, Koga?" I asked, wrapping the still-warm blanket around my cold shoulders.

"Yeah?" He answered, turning around to face me.

"Be careful out there, okay? I don't know what's attacking to wolves, but I don't want to see you. . . I mean, I don't want you to fall into one of Naraku's traps. So just make sure you come back, okay?"

"C'mon." Koga scoffed, cuffing me on the shoulder. "You think that Naraku could trick me _again_? Get real. Don't worry. I'll be back, and I'll have whoever or whatever woke us up's head."

I smiled weakly and nodded.

"Right." I whispered to the boy's retreating backs. "You do that, Koga."

* * * * *

Thirty Minutes Later

* * * * *

_Where are they?_ I wondered, adding another log to the fire. _They should have been back by now. What's going on here?_

I sighed and pulled Ruby closer to me. It didn't do any good worrying about it.

"Koga. . ." I murmered, throwing the blanket over my friend's back. "You'd better come back to me."

I stiffened up. Why had I just said _that?!_ 'You'd better come back to me?' I sounded like some lovesick girl from a movie like _Grease_. Still, I couldn't help but worry about Koga and the others. The knot down in my stomach told me that somethig wasn't quite right.

"Well, well." came a famillar voice from out in the woods. "I didn't believe that it would actually _work_!"

I spun around.

"Bankotsu." I whispered, making the name a curse word. "What're you doing here? Shouldn't you be stalking some poor girl?"

Bankotsu leered at me.

"Oh, shut up." He ordered aimably. "I just wanted to talk to you."

"Huh. Well you know what? I seem to remember that the last time you tried to 'talk to me' you ended up bruising my lips and running into my basement. Now why would that be, I wonder."

Bankotsu smiled at some memory.

"Well, I thought it was pretty good." he said, his eyes focusing on me. "You might not have, but then again, I wouldn't expect _you_ to have any kissing experience."

"Hey! What's that mean, jerk?!" I demanded, planting my hands on my hips and glaring at Bankotsu. "I have _so_ kissed a guy before! Then again, maybe I'm not the only one here."

"Wha'da mean?" he asked, looking pretty dazed.

"Well," I said, getting this evil little smile on my face. "I guess Jakotsu's gotta' let out his affection at _somebody_, since InuYasha won't have him, huh?"

Bankotsu scowled.

"So you don't want to talk?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"Nope. Go away." I ordered, clenching up my fists.

"Well," he said, pulling out a roll of Duct Tape that he'd probably lifted from my kitchen from somewhere I couldn't see in the gloom of the night. "then I guess you're not leaving my with much of a choice."

I screamed as he jumped at me, yanking my arms behind my back and taping up my wrists with praticed motions. He kicked Ruby, who'd jumped to my defence and bitten his leg, in the ribs, sending my friend sprawling on the ground. I screamed again, trying to yank myself out of his grip.

"Shut up!" he howled, clamping his hand over my mouth.

I bit down as hard as I could, but I guess to a mercenary, the little punctures that my teeth made in his flesh was nothing but a flesh wound.

Nevertheless, he quickly replaced his hand with a couple huge pieces of tape. He pulled some cloth out of his pockets and tied it around my eyes, blinding me so I could only see the small light that bled through the matieral. I let out a slight whimper through the tape on my mouth. Not taking any chaces, he taped my upper arms around my torso.

"Alright." he whispered sneakily into my ear, "Now let's get to Mount Hakurai, shall we?"

I shivered, but not because the night was cold.

Bankotsu chuckled.

"Oh, don't worry." he said when I whimpered again. He threw some blankets over my shoulders. "I'm not going to kill you."

_No,_ I thought, realizing just how much of a fix I was really in. _No, you have much more satisfacting things planned for me, don't you, Bankotsu?_

Helpless to fight it, I let Bankotsu lead m off to God only knew where, since I was blindfolded.

* * * * *

Koga

* * * * *

As soon as I saw that Jakotsu, I knew it was all a trap. A plot to lure me away from Susan. I tried to fight my way out of it, but Jakotsu was soon joined with Ginkotsu, Renkotsu, and Suikitsu. We were out numbered, out-gunned, and out-matched. And then I heard Susan's screams.

"DAMMIT! MOVE, YOU BIG BASTARDS!!!!!" I shouted, managing to rip a hole into that monsterous machine that Ginkotsu had become. And then the tables turned. Renkotsu used that fire-breathing thing on me, and I nearly avoided being roasted like a salamander in a fire.

"YESH!" Ginkotsu shouted, firing one of his cannons off at me while Suikotsu attempted to slash Hakkaku and Ginta to shreads while the Gay guy sliced through anything and everything that weren't his comrades. We were loosing. We were loosing badly. We were going to die.

But then things changed. Oh, yes, they changed.

In a split second, a flash came through the battle field, flooring Suikotsu and Renkotsu, and greatly frightening Jakotsu and even Ginkotsu seemed at a loss for words. Though he didn't let it show.

"Yesh?" he asked uncertaily.

And then the flash turned around to face me, and I gasped.

It was a half-Demon girl, with orange and black stripes on her cheeks and ears that were shaped like a cat's. Her long hair was a dull yellow, and her lips were glossed with the same kind of black stuff that Susan put on her's. Her disdaintful glance landed on Baldy, and she bared her teeth, showing her fangs that were longer than even mine.

"You." she said in a sweet but annoyed voice, pointing at him. "You and your friends get out of here. Immeditely."

"Or what?" Suikotsu demanded, climbing to his feet.

"Or you meet my friends the claws." she threatened, raising her right hand and tightening it so the knuckles cracked.

The four men exchanged a look and as one, they jumped on Ginkotsu and rumbled away.

"Heh." the slim girl said like she owned the world. "Cowards."

At another glance, I took in her loose skirt that came to her center-thighs, the pants underneath, and the long-sleeved, sweater-like top. Her black and orange tail swished here and there, and seemed to have a mind of it's own.

"Uhm," I said, looking at her. "Thanks for saving us."

"Sure." she answered, casting that half-lidded look in my direction. "They were pissing me off, anyway."

"Ri-ight." I said. "So, I'm Koga, and these two are Hakkaku and Ginta."

"Kebi." She said, looking away. "From Egypt."

"Alright." I said, making a mental not to ask Susan where Egypt was.

"Koga." Kebi said, suddenly looking over at me. "I think you'd better get going if you're going to save your friend. And by the way, I like her, so I'm coming along if there aren't any major objections"

"Right!" I said, suddenly remembering the reason for my sudden panic. "Let's get going."

**End Chapter**

Alright, so many confessions, so little time. Where to begin? Well, first, I have to admit that I took a lot of ideas out of _Breaking Dawn_ by Stephenie Meyer, the final book in the famous _Twilight _series. I didn't exactly copy anything, but a lot of my ideas came from that book, as well as personalaties from _Pretties_ by Scott Westerfeld. I'm addicted, I guess.

Now, the kidnapping was all my idea, in case you're wondering.

As for Kebi, well, she's based off of my very violent and very good friend Casey who's been asking to be in here as a half-Tiger-Demon girl. I couldn't remember the Hawiian name that she gave me, but I wanted her to be from somewhere in Africa, so I took the Egyptian name Kebi from _Breaking Dawn._ I think she's going to like Kebi, since it sounds pretty cute to me.

I'm sorry it took me so long to finish this one. I had major writer's block, and then I got really buisy with school and family and my birthday and all that good stuff. But I finally have it done, so here it is, finally completed!

Well, it's November 21, and I'm going to go and see _Twilight_ tomorrow, so I thought that I might as well put something like an add in here since I like the book so much. It's a really sweet story about a seventeen-year-old girl, Bella, who falls in love with a one-hundred-year-old vegan vampire, Edward, who looks seventeen. There's a bunch of cute little minor conflicts, plus the major one at the end with the coven to 3 normal vampires named James, Laurent, and Victoria.


	4. Friends

* * * * *

Koga

* * * * *

As soon as I saw that Jakotsu, I knew it was all a trap. A plot to lure me away from Susan. I tried to fight my way out of it, but Jakotsu was soon joined with Ginkotsu, Renkotsu, and Suikitsu. We were out numbered, out-gunned, and out-matched. And then I heard Susan's screams.

"DAMMIT! MOVE, YOU BIG BASTARDS!!!!!" I shouted, managing to rip a hole into that monsterous machine that Ginkotsu had become. And then the tables turned. Renkotsu used that fire-breathing thing on me, and I nearly avoided being roasted like a salamander in a fire.

"YESH!" Ginkotsu shouted, firing one of his cannons off at me while Suikotsu attempted to slash Hakkaku and Ginta to shreads while the Gay guy sliced through anything and everything that weren't his comrades. We were loosing. We were loosing badly. We were going to die.

But then things changed. Oh, yes, they changed.

In a split second, a flash came through the battle field, flooring Suikotsu and Renkotsu, and greatly frightening Jakotsu and even Ginkotsu seemed at a loss for words. Though he didn't let it show.

"Yesh?" he asked uncertaily.

And then the flash turned around to face me, and I gasped.

It was a half-Demon girl, with orange and black stripes on her cheeks and ears that were shaped like a cat's. Her long hair was a dull yellow, and her lips were glossed with the same kind of black stuff that Susan put on her's. Her disdaintful glance landed on Baldy, and she bared her teeth, showing her fangs that were longer than even mine.

"You." she said in a sweet but annoyed voice, pointing at him. "You and your friends get out of here. Immeditely."

"Or what?" Suikotsu demanded, climbing to his feet.

"Or you meet my friends the claws." she threatened, raising her right hand and tightening it so the knuckles cracked.

The four men exchanged a look and as one, they jumped on Ginkotsu and rumbled away.

"Heh." the slim girl said like she owned the world. "Cowards."

At another glance, I took in her loose skirt that came to her center-thighs, the pants underneath, and the long-sleeved, sweater-like top. Her black and orange tail swished here and there, and seemed to have a mind of it's own.

"Uhm," I said, looking at her. "Thanks for saving us."

"Sure." she answered, casting that half-lidded look in my direction. "They were pissing me off, anyway."

"Ri-ight." I said. "So, I'm Koga, and these two are Hakkaku and Ginta."

"Kebi." She said, looking away. "From Egypt."

"Alright." I said, making a mental note to ask Susan where Egypt was.

"Koga." Kebi said, suddenly looking over at me. "I think you'd better get going if you're going to save your friend. And by the way, I like her, so I'm coming along if there aren't any major objections"

"Right!" I said, suddenly remembering the reason for my sudden panic. "Let's get going."

Kebi rolled her eyes.

"Finally." she muttered. "Stupid Wolf."

* * * * *

Ellie

* * * * *

"Ellie, don't go there!" Pizlop was squeeling. I ignored him. I didn't see the danger in going into Susan's basement.

"Ellie!"

I sighed.

"Pizlop, you need to lighten up!" I chirped, smiling at the penguin. "Derik asked me to check out her house in case she's still here!"

"So then why're you going into the basement?"

"Duh. I want a Cherry Coke and the fridge's broken!"

"Ellie, the power's been shut off!" Pizlop told me.

"Ah, go back into the back pack!" I said, stuffing Pizlop back into the pack.

People say that I'm dumb, taking orders from a penguin. But I'm not. Honest! It's just easier to have Pizzy tell me what to do!

So anyways, I was at school that day and Derik had come up to me and Heidi and asked us if we'd seen Susan since the party the day before. She usually called one of us or something, and Ty and Tay-Tay _always_ knew what was going on with the girl. But none of us had heard from her. She wasn't picking up her phone, and none of us could even find her mom. So Derik had sent out a search for her. Heidi got New York City, Derik was taking the town, Tyler was out in the country, and Taylor was in charge of searching newspapers, the Internet, and questioning people about Susan in her spare time. Me? I was searching her house looking for any sign of my friend.

So far, there'd been nothing. And I do mean in the literal sence, _nothing._ All of her blankets were gone, any canned or perserved food, all of her make-up and clothes, and even her sewing kit had simply _vanished._

"Susan's on vacation!" I said happily.

"Ellie?" Pizlop said in a voice that said quite plainly he thought I was an idiot.

"Hm?" I asked, trying to turn on the TV.

"The power's out, it's freezing in here, so the heat's off, her mom's stuff is still in the master bedroom, and the whole house feels deserted. Susan is _not_ on vacation! I think that something's happened to her. And Ellie?"

"Yeah?"

"The TV is _not_ going to work!!"

"Then I need a soda." I said, going into the kitchen. I grabbed a Cherry Coke from the blackened fridge, and opened it. I took a sip and frowned.

"The bubbles went bye-bye!" I gasped, tapping the can.

"ELLIE!!" Pizlop roared. "WHAT DON'T YOU GET ABOUT THE POWER BEING OUT?! THE BILLS OBVIOUSLY HAVEN'T BEEN PAID!!"

"Okay, okay!" I said, plugging my ears. "So the basement'll be cold, and Susan keeps soda in the basement!"

So that was how I ended up in Susan's basement, looking around hopelessly for a can of Cherry Coke.

"Hmmm." I said, taking the lid off of a wooden fridge built into the ground. "Is the soda in _here_?" I asked, reaching in to find the cans.

"Ellie!" Pizlop cried. "Get away from that well!"

"Oh, don't worry!" I said, grinning. "I'm not going to fall into the fri_-iiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!_"

Um, I guess I _did_ fall into the fridge.

As I fell screaming into the freezing cold hole along with Pizlop, I was twisting. I felt my head strike the side. Dazed, I couldn't even scream. I could only fall as time seemed to slow down and I finally landed on my stomach, tasting sand.

"OMPH!" I gasped as I landed.

"Ellie! Ellie! Ellie, are you okay?!" Pizlop, who was safe in the bag, was squeeling.

"Ohm. Oh. Ah. Ow." I murmered, pushing myself up. "Pizzy? I think I have a concussion. I hit my head on the way down. And I don't think that we're in Susan't basement anymore. It's snowing."

"Well." Pizlop huffed. "What was your first. . . Ellie! Oh, my God! You said 'concussion'! Do you know what that is?!"

"Sure. It's when you hit your head and your brain gets seriously messed up. I think it's like a blood clot or it could be a bruise or something." Then it dawned on me. "Oh, my God! I've never said something that sophisticated before! Pizzy, what's going on?!"

"You said 'sophisticated'! Ellie, I think that bonk on your head did what I've been trying to do for years! It finally knocked some sence into you!"

"Yeah. Sure. Let's get out of this stupid well, alright?" I said, climbing up.

If I thought it was over, I was wrong.

"Pizlop?" I asked slowly. "Why're we in the woods?"

Pizlop never answered my question. Because at that moment, a very pretty boy and a really cute little girl came out of the trees.

The boy had a cold expression and long silver hair. A cresent moon was on his forehead, and he had long nails that could almost be claws. The girl just had black hair and dark brown eyes.

"Hey." I said, flashing them a smile. "Hey, me and my penguin here are kinda' lost. Can you guys tell us where we are? Oh, and have you ever heard of a girl named Susan?"

* * * * *

Susan

* * * * *

I was beyond pissed.

My wrists were still taped up (for the life of me, I _still_ couldn't figure out how Bankotsu had found out how to use the frickin' Duct Tape), my mouth was still taped up, though through out the hours we'd been walking, the section over my lips was beginning to become moist (I could feel my lips chapping), my arms were falling asleep from being pinned to my rib cage, I couldn't see, my nose was as good as dead, and I was beyond tired. And that wasn't even the worst of it.

I was in the presence of a perverted psycopath who was leading me up a mountain that made me feel sicker and sicker with every step that we took.

My demon powers had returned to me, but a lot of good it did me if I couldn't break the tape all tied up like I was, and even if I did, there wouldn't be much use in it since Bankotsu probably would have killed me on the spot anyway.

So all I could do was follow orders and keep walking. It was really my only chance at survival. And then I felt it.

I walked right into the barrier.

I stopped short, my lips trembling again. If I took one more step up the mountain, I would be purified, and while that doesn't sound like too much of a threat, believe me, it is. It means that I would most likely be killed. Painfully. Like grabbing onto an electrically charged wire fence and waiting for the electricity to kill me.

"What'd you stop for?" Bankotsu asked.

I growled deep in my throat. How was I supposed to tell him if my mouth was cemented shut?!

"Oh, right." he said, peeling the shit off my face. I gasped in pain as it seemed it almost ripped my face off.

"_Owwwwww!_" I complained, trying to ease the pain without my hands. Not easy. "Ack! Ouch! Ah!" I continued. "Oh, don't you know _anything_?" I added to Bankotsu. "That's a frickin' sacred barrier! It'll kill me!"

"Huh?" Bankotsu said. "Oh, right. Naraku warned me about that thing. Said that you'd be okay since you're half human. So move it!"

_Sure. I'll just walk into my death like a good little girl_. I thought sarcastically. I really didn't want to. Even if Naraku was right and I wouldn't be purified, it would probably hurt. But which would I want? Pain and then a voilent death or just good old pain? Decisions, decisions.

I bit my lip and walked foreward as Bankotsu ordered me to.

The pain was enormous. I probably passed out at one time or another. But I just kept going. My legs protested my every move toward Mt. Hakurai, and my brain was screaming from the pain, my limbs seeming to be on fire. Eventually, my legs gave way and I fell flat on my face, whimpering something about burning up. Bankotsu scooped me up and carried me in, even though I screamed and withered. It probably didn't help that I was loosing feeling in my fingers and I couldn't see. But then I felt my ears receding along with my claws.

And I couldn't help it. With Bankotsu holding me, I fell asleep with my head against his chest and my arms tied up.

* * * * *

When I woke up after what seemed like hours, I was in a cave. The Duct Tape was still around me, and I wasn't alone. Jakotsu and Renkotsu had joined Bankotsu, and they were debating about something or another. I guess I should note that I couldn't see them, but I could recgonize their voices.

"Bankotsu, we can't keep her here with us!" Jakotsu, the guy who liked Tyler, whined.

"Well, what else are we supposed to do?" Bankotsu demanded. "Just let her go? I don't think so. That was what fighting Koga was all about!"

"Koga." I whispered to myself, and I heard three rustles around me.

"Big Brother." Renkotsu said. "I don't think it's necessairy to keep her bound anymore. It's not like she can run anywhere."

"Right. Okay. Now, how do I get this stuff off of her?" Bankotsu wondered. "Oh! I know! Renkotsu, you get her loose!"

"Uh, why me? I'm not the one. . . Never mind. I'll do it." And with that, he sliced at the tape around my arms, freeing them and then going at my wrists.

"Stay still." he told me grudgingly. "Big Brother will kill me if I slice off one of your hands by mistake."

"Uh. . ." I said, nodding my head. "Okay. . ."

"Thanks." I said dully, untying the blindfold and blinking at the sudden light. I rubbed my wrists to get the blood pumping again.

Renkotsu nodded and motioned at Jakotsu to accompany him out of the cave. I glared at Bankotsu, not trusting him for one minute. I didn't think it a coincidence that the other two would leave the minute I woke up.

"Alright. I'm ready for an explanation." I said, crossing my arms and not dropping my gaze.

Bankotsu smiled at me.

"Hey, isn't it obvious?" he asked, moving foreward faster than I could react and cupping my chin in his hand.

"Oh, now don't you dare do that agai-" I began before he silenced me in one of his violent kisses. This time it was slower, but not any less bruising or humiliating. I tried to pull away, but he planted his hand on the back of my neck, gluing his lips to mine. And it seemed to make him angry when I tried to get away from him, because he pressed his mouth even harder on mine and forced my lips open. He prerssed my head against the wall, so I still couldn't slip away, and then he roughly grabbed my upper arms with his hands, bruising my arms in his vice-like grip. I tried to break away, but he was simply too strong and I was just a human, after all.

And then I felt his tongue slip into my mouth gently caressing my own tongue and the insides of my cheeks. It almost tickled, and I won't lie that it felt awesome. Is that wrong? That I hated the guy but I _liked_ it when he gave me some tongue?

And then, at long last, he pulled away and I slapped him while breathing a little harder myself.

"_Don't fucking kiss me, you pervert!!_" I told him, biting my lip. "Don't _ever _touch me, 'cause if you do, then I'll hit you so hard that you'll have to invent dentists a few centuries early!"

Bankotsu grinned at me.

"Aw, c'mon. It wasn't that bad. Personally, I thought it was pretty amazing."

"You would." I muttered, looking away. _Cuz you're a _pervert!! I thought sullenly.

"So." he said, suddenly buisness like. "What were you saying?"

I tried very hard to stay patient. It wasn't easy.

"I _wanted_ to know." I said, saying each word slowly. "Why you _kidnapped_ me and distracted Koga and the others."

"Oh. Yeah. I guess I just didn't like that wolf sleeping next to you." Bankotsu laughed.

I felt my mouth drop open and the anger quickly settled in. What buisness was it of _his_ if I slept next to Koga?!

"What's up?" he asked, tilting his head off to the side.

My mouth worked in my brewing furey, but I could't seem to get any sound to come out. Finally, I said:

"You were _spying on us?!_ You-you-_you_-"

And then he kissed me again.

_Dammit. I gave him an opening!_ I thought, balling up my fists but letting his hot breath sear my mouth anyway. I thought it was probably my best move to staying alive if I just didn't fight him. This time, I forced my body to go limp so he wouldn't think I was fighting. It was an instinctive move, but I guess he took it some other way, because he pulled me in closer to him and pulled my limp legs around his waist. He placed my hands on his shoulders and held the underside of my thighs. Lifting me up, he slammed me against the cave wall, making me gasp in pain and pull back. He let me stay like that for about two seconds before he was kissing me again, his lips tracing my jaw bone and slowly working his down my neck.

I whimpered.

"Cut it out." I said in a whisper, but almost contrary to my words, my thighs tightened up around his waist and my hands gripped his shoulders very tightly. If I didn't know better, I would have said that I actually _liked_ it.

Slowly, he worked his mouth back and started nibbling my earlobe. I let out a moan of pleasure.

"Ban-kot-su-_stop_!" I ordered, jerking my head off to the side and closing my eyes, waiting for him to slap me. I didn't trust men too much, Derik, Tyler, and Koga and Hakkaku and Ginta being the exception, and only then because they were Wolves too, and I certainly didn't trust Bankotsu too far. From what I'd experienced, if you let a guy like Bankotsu get too far and you pulled away, he'd slap you and tell you to shut up and just go with it. And then there were all the harrassing phone calls, restraining orders, and cops to deal with afterwords when you pressed charges agianst the guy.

I waited for the shattering blow that I was sure would come, clenching my teeth and feeling my muscles tighten up in aprehension. But Bankotsu suprised me.

"Why're you so afraid?" he asked, setting me down and cupping my chin in his hand. I dared to raise my eyes, and when I did, Bankotsu was looking back at me almost tenderly, and a little worried. I guess I really must have tooked terrafied.

I sucked air into my lungs (I had forgotten to breathe) and felt my shoulders tense up.

"Nothing." I murmered, looking away. "Just forget it, alright?"

"No, tell me!" he insisted, grabbing my arm and making me flinch away, screwing my eyes shut again.

"_LET GO!!_" I shreeked, slapping his hand. He jumped. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself.

"I. . .I. . . sorry." I whispered, feeling my eyes water up. "It's just. . . well, the last boyfriend I had kinda' slapped me around, is all."

_It was a little harder than a slap._ I added to myself. _More like slamming me into the wall and almost pulling my hair out of my head._ I remembered when he'd broken my arm after pounding me into the floor and kicking me a few times. I shuddered. I tried _not_ to remember what the guy had done to me, since I still had scars from it. I wiped the salty water from my eyes and looked away.

_Just forget about it, Susan._ I told myself. _It's a thing of the past, the guy is in jail, and he's never going to find you here. But Koga, you'd better hurry up and get here somehow. Oh, but the barrier. . . Koga, if you can find me, don't you dare get yourself killed!_

* * * * *

Kebi

* * * * *

After about five minutes, it became clear that the majority of these Wolf-Demons weren't the brightest. The leader, Koga, was alright, but the other two quickly drove me insane.

_Just put up with it, Kebi. If you want to avenge your family, just tag along until you know where Naraku is._

I hated Naraku for fooling my mother and step-father, then killing them and my little sister and older half-brother. I'd sworn to kill him for it.

I'd never been close to any of my family except for little Alexandria. Ally. My little sister. The only other half-Demon that I knew, torn to shreads by the strange Japanese babboon and the albino girl with him. I loved Ally like no other, as only an older sister can love her younger sister. I loved Ally more than I loved my mother, Cleo, my step-father Amun, and my half-brother Brom. I never liked Brom, but Ally was worth avenging. And then Susan came along.

Even with her strange name, her almost obscene clothes, and odd gadgets, I felt I could relate to her like no other, for she, too, was feuled my a blood-feud. She, too, felt the burning need to revenge her family. And thought I senced that her past was darker than she was letting show, I felt for certain that we weren't so different. Had she, too, been shunned for all of her life, only accepted by her closest family? Or had her life been much more brutal and bloody?

One thing I knew, though. She was one of the few that could unconciously adjust her aging rate to match that of the one she held most dear. I only knew of a select few who had that gift, one from what was called 'Spain' and another from Itally. As for myself and Ally, it was every six years. Koga, of course, was imortal like any demon and only changed once in a very long while.

"It's this way." I said, leading the way towards the mountain that the leader of the strange group had snatched Susan off to.

Though Koga clearly wanted to know more about me, I kept silent while we ran, and he didn't press the issue. That was one thing that I could like about him. He knew when to keep his mouth closed.

After a while, the sun rose, but we didn't stop. I was more than used to running through the night, and apparently, Koga was, too. However, when we got to the base of the mountain, Koga doubled over and seemed to be fighting the urge to hurl. Behind us, Hakkaku and Ginta were involved in similar activities. I personally got a good blast from that damnded barrier and had to fight a wave of nausia of my own.

"The Sacred Barrier." Koga choked out.

"Yes." I agreed. "I do think that I am the only one who can pass through. I will simply revert back to my human form, while you will be instantly purified."

"Wait a minute!" Ginta shouted, looking around in confusion. "You mean that Susan's _behind that barrier_?! She's as good as dead!"

Everybody ignored him. Why waste time on stupid things?

"I'll bring the girl back." I promaced, taking a step into the barrier. I felt my powers waining, and eventually, I was reverted back to my Human form. I _wanted_ to bring her back. And then I saw a young girl. She couldn't have been more than ten, with black honey-colored curls and bright blue eyes, dressed in clothes that looked eerly like Susan's, walking around Mt. Hakurai like she was out for a morning stroll!

"Hey!" I shouted over to her. "Kid!"

She took one glance at me, and I think she tried to shout back, but then the mist closed in and a second later, I could have sworn she was never there.

_What was that?_ I wondered. _A ghost? No, she looked solid. So what was she?_

I put the mater out of my mind and kept going. And finally, after hours of walking, I saw the cave. I snuck up, and I saw her.

Asleep, in her human form, Susan looked frail and weak. Some blankets were strewn around her, and she tossed and turned, moaning every so often and shook her head frantically. What on Earth she could have been dreaming about that caused such a reaction baffled me, but I guessed it had to be pretty awful. On the other side, even though it was very cold out, the leader of the Band of Seven, Bankotsu, was sleeping without any blankets, his arms crossed even in sleep. I silently snuck over to her, and I was shocked to see that she was covered in some kind of gray bands that stuck to her skin. They were around her ankles and bound her wrists behind her back, making her unable to run off on her own. Of course, the Band of Seven thought their only problems were InuYasha and his group, who would have no reason to save Susan even if they had wanted to, the Wolf-Demon Tribe, who could not enter the barrier, and Sesshomaru and his group. Sesshomaru and his lackey Jaken were in the same situation as Koga, and the little girl traveling with him, Rin, would never be aloud to go after Susan on her own. Sesshomaru wouldn't trust her with any of InuYasha's friends, and he wouldn't want to save Susan anyhow. So in their mind, all they had to do was tie Susan up and she wouldn't go anywhere.

"Hey." I whispered under my breath, shaking the girl gently.

"Huh? Oh, wha-" I quickly placed my hand over her mouth for fear that it would wake Bankotsu up.

"It's alright. I'm with Koga." I hissed, slicing the silver bands on her wrists with a sharp rock. "My name's Kebi."

"Kebi." She whispered, taking the rock and freeing her ankles. "Like from Egypt?"

I made an 'Mm-hm'ing sound and nodded my head, taking her hand and leading her out of the cave. She let go as soon as we were outside, and walked beside me, not letting up on the questions.

"What part of Egypt are you from?"

"Around the Nile." I said, glancing around me. "Near the Ancient Palace."

"How'd you know where to find me?" she demanded, ducking under a rock that was jutting out.

"I just went as far up on the mountain as I could get before I got the the cave." I said, smiling slightly. "You see, I'm a half-Demon too, and I have a natural sence of direction."

"Really? What kind of demon?" she asked, her eyes lighting up.

"Tiger." I told her.

"Wow. The only other Half-Demon I ever knew of besides myself and InuYasha is. . . never mind." she added, smiling. "Oh, look! It's Koga!" she broke into a run, and Hakkaku and Ginta cried out joyfully :

"It's Susan! She's alive!"

Susan ran right through the barrier, and I don't even think that she realized her Demon powers had returned. She ran right up to Koga and flung her arms around his neck, pulling him into a tight hug.

"Koga!" she laughed, looking up into his eyes. He looked down, laughing like a moron. And then, as though she'd just thought of the idea, she grabbed the back of his head, stood on her tip-toes, pulled Koga's head down, and kissed him, right on the spot.

* * * * *

Ellie

* * * * *

"Lord Sesshomaru?" the little girl said, looking at the pretty-boy in astionishment. "Didn't that half-demon girl say that her name was Susan?"

Sesshomaru nodded.

"Oh, yes! I remember! She looked at me like I was funny for calling her 'Lady Susan'! I have to say, she sure was a _nice_ Half-Demon. InuYasha _does_ get annoying, you know?"

I felt myself going into shock.

"Half-Demon?" I asked. "Well, I wouldn't know anything about that, but was her hair really curly hair? And did she seem to really like dark colors?"

The little girl frowned.

"Well, her hair _was_ curly, but I don't know about the dark colors. She was in. . . well, pants kinda' like yours, and some kind of grey shirt. I think it had some blue words on it." I nodded. That sounded an awful lot like our school sweat shirts with a pair of jeans. "Oh! And she had this wolf with her! I think it was named after some kind of jem! Oh, hang on, let me think. Was it Pearl or Opal or Saphire or-"

"Ruby?" I asked, a smile hitting my lips. "A grey wolf with black ears and a white belly?"

"Yeah!" the girl cried, a smile lighting up her whole face. "That's the girl!"

"How do you know her?" the Sesshomaru asked, speaking for the first time. I had to hold in a gasp. That voice. . . SO HOT!!!!

"Oh! Um, I'm her best friend." I said, only stretching the truth a teeny bit. I was _one_ of her best friends.

Sesshomaru nodded.

"She went in the direction of the OxTiger." he told me. "The north east."

"Yeah!" the kid piped up. "But I wouldn't be too worried about her. She's with that Wolf-Demon Koga. He'll keep her safe!"

I frowned.

"Koga? Never heard of the guy. And what in the good name of God is a Wolf-Demon?"

"What, do you live under a rock?" some green imp asked from Sesshomaru's feet.

I glared at him.

"No. I just live a very, very, _very_ long ways away." I told him.

"Ooooh! Lord Sesshomaru, I like this girl! Can she come with us? Please? Please? Aren't we going in the direction of the OxTiger anyways?"

Sesshomaru looked over me. And at that moment, Pizlop poked his head out of my bag.

"Ah! Nice and cool out here! Reminds me of home! Hey, Ellie, it's going to snow tonight. I can feel it in my wings!"

I shoved the nuscince back into my pack.

"Sorry." I muttered, rolling my eyes. "My penguin. Pizlop. He loves snow. Oh, and apparently it's going to snow tonight."

Sesshomaru gave me a once-over again and then turned around.

"I suppose she can tag along if she wants to." he said. "But we'll need to know her name."

"Oh, right. Sorry." I said. "My name's Ellie, and my penguin is Pizlop. I call him Pizzy. Who're you guys?"

"I'm Rin!" The cheerfull kid said. "That's Master Jaken" she pointed at the imp-dude. "That's Lord Sesshomaru," the cold guy. "And this here is Ah-Un." she completed, patting a two-headed dragon that suddenly came out of the forest. "Do you want a ride?"

* * * * *

Susan

* * * * *

Yes, I kissed Koga. And yes, I thought he was going to hit me. And yes, he kissed back with such a force it sent my brain spinning.

Because his lips were nothing like Bankotsu's. He was warm and kind, his lips and hands not bruising me. It wasn't a one-sided kiss like Bankotsu's were. I was kissing Koga, and he was kissing back. True, he wrapped his hands around my waist and squeezed a little bit, but I had moved my hands down to his back and was pressing him to me and managing to hug him at the same time.

"Ahem. If you two are _quite_ finished. . . " Kebi said in a tolerant tone. "There's someting I need to tell you all.

Koga and I broke apart, but his hand found mine and I gave it a squeeze.

"Yeah." I said, blushing. "Sorry, Kebi. Go ahead."

Kebi rolled her eyes. I saw that some tiger marks had appeared on her face, claws grew out, her hair had turned from red to blonde, her eyes from brown to green, cute little ears on top of her head (kinda' like InuYasha's) and a tiger tail had grown.

"Well, now that I have everybody's _attention_, I thought you should know that I saw something very strange on the mountain."

"What was it?" Koga asked, temporairly taking charge.

"It was a kid." she said slowly. "I think she was around ten. She had this black curly hair, and these aqua eyes. And here's the strangest part. She was dressed like _you_, Susan."

I think I went into shock. My eyes widened, and my mouth parted.

"Susan?" Koga asked, immedietly concerned. "Susan, are you alright?"

"Sis?" Ginta asked. "Sister?"

"Hey!" Hakkaku shouted, waving his arms over his head and jumping up and down. "Snap out of it. . ."

But his voice was fading out. I didn't even hear Ginta or Koga. I felt my eyes roll up into my head. And I was falling. Falling into the darkness, with only one thing circling through my head.

_Jenny. She's alive. Jenny. Jenny. Oh, Jenny._

* * * * *

Ginta

* * * * *

Koga caught Susan as she fainted after hearing about that kid.

"What's wrong with her?" I asked as we ran, Koga carrying Susan, away from the mountain.

"I don't know." Hakkaku said, looking over sympatheticaly at Susan's limp form. "But I guess it was something about that girl that set Susan off."

I nodded as Koga led us through the woods so far that Kebi began to tire, since tigers aren't built for running a long distance.

"Think that's enough distance?" Hakkaku asked, noticing Kebi's fatigue.

"Yeah." Koga said, gently setting Susan down. "Well don't just stand there! Get her some water! And blankets!"

Hakkaku ran off to the stream to break away some of the thin ice to get to the clean water underneath, and I rushed over to Susan's pack to gather up her blankets. Hakkaku came back with the water as soon as I had fetched the blanktets. Koga gently tipped the water down Susan's throat, and she woke up, hacking up all the water.

"Oh, God!" she suddenly cried, shaking her head. "Jenny!"

"Who?" Koga asked, giving her a funny look.

Susan's eyes brimmed with tears.

"Jenny. My little sister." she said in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Sister?" Kebi asked sharply. "You have a sister?"

The girl nodded.

"I do." she whispered, her shoulders and ears drooping. "She's five years younger than me. My mom was only one month pregnant when my dad left. She didn't even know when he ran off or else I think she could have stopped him." then she began to cry. "I thought she was dead!" she gased, wiping her eyes as fresh tears began to fall.

"Shhhh." Koga cooed, pusing the water into her shaking hands. "Here, Susan, drink this and tell us what happened."

Susan nodded weakly.

"Alright." she whispered, sipping the water. "It was a few years ago when I was nine. My mom had taken me and Jenny to some kind of festival, I forget what kind. I turned my back for one second to look at this doll stand. I was holding her hand, I didn't think anything could happen!" Her voice was rising hystarically. "But the next thing I knew, her hand was ripped out of my own and Jenny was screaming for me and my mom. I turned around, and some guy was carrying her off! We chased after them, and the police raised an Amber Alert, but we never found her." Tears fell fast and furious down her face. "Oh, Jenny! I loved her so much, and for the past four years I've thought she was dead! I mean, after a few months, you stop thinking that the cops will bring home that laughing girl you grew up with, and you start wondering if they'll find the body in a desert or whatever." She looked at Kebi who looked very spooked. "I know it was Jenny. When she was human, she had black curls and aqua-blue eyes. Did. . . did she have a scar on her face? Right above her eye brow? Did you notice, Kebi?"

Kebi nodded.

"Yeah. Jagged. Like lightening."

Susan smiled a wattery smile.

"Yeah. That was Jenny, all right. When she was three, she fell into a door and sliced open her head. She's had that scar ever since." Then her smile faded. "That's another thing to hate myself for. I couldn't protect her from that. . . DAMMIT!!" she shouted, balling up her fists and digging her claws into her hands. "I should have _kept her safe_! I _**HATE**_ myself! I fucking let my little sister get _kidnapped!_"

Koga looked like he was going to slap her. She was scarring me, too. I'd _never_ seen Susan in this state, and had no idea of how to react. I mean, she was usually so funny and smart-mouthed. I never thought that she'd have her own dark past. . .

Just when I was about to say something, or let Koga slap her to haul her to her sences, or maybe pour some cold water over her head, _anything_ to get her back to normal, Kebi stepped foreward and kneeled in front of Susan. I thought she was going to smack Susan herself, but Gods, was I wrong.

"No." she said, shaking her head in denial. "It's _not_ your fault. Susan, _listen to me_!" she ordered, grabbing the other girl's shoulders and giving her a sound shake. "You couldn't stop that guy from snatching up your sister, you had no control over whatever Naraku did to your mother, and it _wasn't your fault_ that your father left. Susan, _look at me_!" Susan reluctantly rose her eyes up to meet Kebi's. "I've been in your exact same position, alright? Naraku killed my mother, my sister, and my mother's second husband and his son. I _know_ what you're thinking right about now, and let me tell you this: just because you're a survivor _doesn't_ mean that it's your fault the others aren't. So stop _blaming_ yourself so we can think up some way to get your sister and mother back!"

I was in shock. _Kebi?!_ She seemed the _least_ likely to reveal her past! But what she said seemed to work on Susan, because she whispered:

"Really?"

"_Yes._" Kebi said forcefully. "I'll bet you anything that all this can be pinned on Naraku. Your parents and sister. And," she added. "Naraku likes to mess with people's heads. I'd bet that right about now, he's sitting behind that barrier on Mount Hakurei and thinking 'I've got her mind fucked up pretty good now!'. Dammit, Susan, will you _fucking listen to me?!_ Stop your blubbering! It's a thing of the past and we can't change that! But your little sister needs you, and you're going to go to her if it's the last thing you do. Gosh darn it, don't you _want_ to save Jenny?!"

"Of coarse!" Susan said indignately. "I'll save Jenny if it's the last thing I do! But. . . what if she doesn't remember me?" she asked in a whisper. "She was so young. I mean, we were close, but what if Naraku messed with her mind, or what if I'm just some dream that she's half-forgotten about?"

Koga finally moved foreward and slapped her face. Not hard, mind you, but enough to get Susan to shut up and listen.

"WHO CARES?!" he roared at her. "SHE'S YOU SISTER, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! IF SHE DOESN'T REMEMBER YOU, THEN WE'LL JUST HAVE HER SMELL THE SIMIALRATIES. MEMORIES _NEVER_ GO AWAY! THEY'RE JUST HIDDEN IS ALL!"

Even though he didn't really hurt her that much, her cheek was turning red. For a second, anger flashed in her eyes, but then swift understanding.

"Thanks." she whispered, pressing her hand to the stinging area. "I guess I needed that, huh?" she flashed us her old smile. "So let's get working on. . . oh. The Elder's back." she sighed, standing up and turning to greet the talking Elder.

"Susan!" he wheezed. "I had to run to get a head start. Julian isn't really sticking to procedure here. He's coming right behind me! He'll be here in about half an hour!"

* * * * *

Ellie

* * * * *

I liked Rin. She was nice and funny. And Sesshomaru was pretty cool. Kinda' cold, but who in hell cared? Ah-Un was awesome, and he didn't bother Pizlop, either, so that made him great. Jaken, however, was a different story.

I hated that imp the instant I saw him, and that hatred only intensified as we walked toward the direction that Susan was hopefully in. Not only was the thing short and whinny, he had this high-pitched voice and a superiority complex against me and Rin. And he made it very clear when I let Pizlop out of my bag since it was so cold out that he would feel comftorable that he didn't like Pizlop at all. In fact, he had already threatened him multiple times with that weird two-headed staff thing. I had already bopped him on the head every time he spoke out against Pizlop, Rin, Susan, Uh-Un, worms, rocks, and everything in general. Sesshomaru had done nothing to stop me, so I took this as a sign that as long as he deserved it, it was cool to hit Jaken.

After a while, Sesshomaru told me that Susan was getting pretty close.

After another five minutes, something hit me.

"Hey, Rin?" I asked, glancing down at the girl.

"Do re me fa sol la tea- Yes? What is it, Lady Ellie?"

I looked at her strangely but ignored the 'Lady Ellie' part.

"Don't your parents worry about you traveling around like this? I mean, you're so young."

Rin sighed.

"Not really. You see, my parents and brothers were killed a while back by bandits, so I've pretty much been on my own since then. But Lord Sesshomaru found me and he's been taking care of me ever since, so it's not so bad. What about your parents, Lady Ellie?"

I grimaced.

"Yeah. An alcoholic mother and an absent, buisness-obsessed father are really going to notice that I'm gone. That's why I started hanging around Susan and the others, you know. I guess when other kids' lives are so messed up, you kinda' forget about your own problems, and after a while, they get really small. Cuz' all of our lives suck. When Susan's mom is actually around, she's usually Google-stalking some guy or doting over Susan, and the doting sessions are few and far between. Derik's sister is in jail for murder, and his dad is currently smacking his mother around whenever she makes him mad. Tyler and Taylor moved out last year when they turned seventeen since they couldn't put up with their father's bull anymore, and Heidi, well, her folks are divorced, her father's a psociopath serial killer in Riker's, her mom's always at work, and when she's home, she's so messed up about her brother's getting his girlfriend pregnant that she doesn't have any time for Heidi." I looked away. "I dunno. Maybe the others will miss me. Derik and Ty and Tay-Tay and Heidi, I mean." Then I smiled, putting on a brave face. "But let's change the subject. How about we talk about-"

"The fact that your friend is in the clearing up ahead?" Sesshomaru suggested, coming to a halt and nodding towards an area in the woods.

"Oh!" I said. "Right!" I added, running over. And I saw the strangest sight. Susan was standing there in her filthy pajamas, surrounded by three men in skirts and a girl who bore a startingly resembalance to a tiger. Two wolves were in the clearing with them. One I knew was Ruby, and the other was very old and he was _freaking speaking English_ and telling Susan that some guy named Julian was coming.

"What?!" Susan was crying, feeling her filthy hair and looking down at her pajamas. "_Now?!_ I look like a wreck! And I smell like I havn't showered in months! I can't. . . OH MY FUCKING GOD!!" she added, catching sight of me. "ELLIE?! What the hell are you doing here?!"

I smiled bashfully and came out of the clearing.

"Hey, Susan. What's up?" I asked. "You look like shit." I added.

Susan rolled her eyes.

"Oh, thanks so much, Ellie. I feel so good about myself now. . . Alright. Who in hell are you?" She added, planting her hands on her hips. "Cuz' you can't be Ellie, not talking like you actually have a brain."

"I fell into that stupid well in you basement while I was looking for you and got thirsty so I went looking for soda and hit my head while I was going down." I told her. "But more importantly, don't you have some occasion to get pretty for?"

"Oh!" she gasped. "You're right. Hakkaku! Get some water hot for me while I find something decent to wear. I don't think I can exactly wear all black when I meet my. . . _father_. . ." she sounded like she was just trying out the word. "for the first time, now can I? Hm. . . maybe an Aero sweatshirt and American Rag? Yeah, that'll be fine, I think. Oh, but what T-shirt? Oh, God. Um, maybe. . . "she muttered to herself for a while, pulling a pink Aeropostale sweatshirt and dark blue jeans out of her bag.

_Well, this should be interesting._ I thought dryly. _Susan in something other than black and dark colors. Pink at that!_

But I kept my mouth shut. I just couldn't wait to see the others' reactions.

* * * * *

Susan

* * * * *

As soon as I stepped out of the bushes, all eyes were on me. I mean it! Ellie was talking to Koga and Kebi, the Elder and Ruby were conversing, and Hakkaku and Ginta were tending the fire and trading fake war stories. But when I stepped out, all noise stopped. As it turned out, the only clean pair of jeans that I owned were too small, and all of the others were so filthy dirty I wouldn't have worn them anyways. So I ended up in a white mini skirt and black leggings. That combined with my pink Aero sweatshirt, well, I felt odd to say the least.

Why I even owned those colors, Ididn't know.

Anyway, I stepped out about fifteen minutes later with dripping wet hair, since I'd taken a very quick bath (I'd used the water that I'd ordered Hakkaku to heat up), dressed for all I was worth like a prep, and my makeup kept to a minimum.

Did I feel weird? Yes.

Did people stare? You bet they did.

Was I a little bit pissed off? Hell, yeah!

"Ellie." I said, trying not to shout. "Can you braid my hair for me?"

"It's harder when it's wet." She said doubtfully, surveying my look.

"Can you just try?" I begged, fearing that I wouldn't have the patience myself at the moment.

"Alright. But it might get all frizzy." She warned, walking over and scraping her fingers across my scalp. It was a strangely soothing feeling, and after a while, all of my stress was gone.

At least, it was until Hakkaku had to open his big mouth.

"Hey! You finally look normal, Susan!" he cried.

I was about to punch him, but Koga did it for me.

"Don't you dare insult her!" he said, baring his fangs.

Kebi laughed, and I think we all were a little freaked out by that.

"Ha ha ha!" she howled, rolling on the ground. "Oh, Gods! You don't actually-"

"Kebi!" I shrieked. "I think I hear something!"

I didn't really, but if I'd let her go on, she would have said that Koga liked me. And I didn't want Hakkaku, Ginta, and Ellie knowing that. Mainly because Ellie learned all too late that my taste in boys wasn't exactly the best, due to my abusive ex-boyfriend.

My clever cover-up didn't seem to fool my friend, though.

"_do_ you like him?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Maybe." I muttered back, giving off a grin. "Tell anybody and I'll wreak havoc on your soul." I added playfully as she gave my hair a vicious yank in return.

"Ouch! Ellie!" I complained, biting my lip. "That really _hurt_!"

"Sure. Whatev." she said back, and I heard her smile turn to a buisness-like frown. "So. What's all this about being a Half-Demon or something like that?" She asked.

"E-Ellie! How'd you know about that?" I gasped, too shocked to answer.

"I get around. Have you ever heard about a guy named Sesshomaru?"

"The Dog-Demon? Yeah, I know him. Why? You're not tagging along with him, are you?"

"Sure am. Is there something wrong with him or something?"

"N-o." I said slowly. "I just thought. . . well, I've met his half-brother InuYasha, and I guess he's okay, but can't Sesshomaru be a little. . . you know. . . _cold?_"

"Cold? Well, I guess so." Ellie said. "But he's alright. I like him." she added, and even though I wasn't facing her, I could tell she was getting tense.

"He is pretty cool." I admitted. "I guess I don't really have any reason to _dislike_ him, and he _did_ help me save Koga, Hakkaku and Ginta a few days ago, so I'd be able to tolerate him."

"Koga, Hakkaku and who?" Ellie asked.

"Koga, Hakkaku and Ginta." I said. "Koga's the one with the black hair, Hakkaku's the one with the Mokawk, and Ginta's the guy in the fur vest. They're Wolf-Demons like my father was. . . _is_. I'm still getting used to saying that he's alive. . ."

Ellie finished up with my hair and strung an elastic around the nape on my neck.

"A Wolf-Demon? Wait, I thought your mom's a human. . ."

"She is. She's a Sorceress. That's like a Witch, but not as evil and without the warts. And unlike a Priest or Priestess, she doesn't rely on holy forces to get her powers. I guess you could say her kind is a free bird. She gets her powers from the enviroment."

"Like a Fairy?"

"Sure. Something like that."

"Cool. So do you have super-powers?"

I grinned.

"Depends on how you mean 'super powers'. I mean, you've seen me in gym, but I'm really much faster than that. I can go at about fifteen MPH, twenty if I'm really pushing it, but Koga over there can go at about thirty or fourty. Then again, he has Sacred Jewel Shards jammed in his legs. Hakkaku and Ginta are pretty slow, only about ten or twelve. But the human average is about seven-point-five, so even they'd be faster than you. I'm strong from a Human perspective, but to a Demon, I'm pretty average. And that's from a more advanced Demon's point of view. From a Lesser-Demon, I kick ass. I have a wolf's nose, regardless, and on top of that, my ears are pointed like any Wolf-Demon."

"But I mean like _magical_ powers." Ellie persisted.

I sighed.

"I'm not sure. My mom and great-grandmother were Sorceresses, but my _grandmother_ wasn't. But then again, she didn't even believe in them, and that might have held an element. I'm pretty in-tune with nature, but my mother's powers didn't really show up until she was about fifteen, and even then they only came on full-force when she was eighteen. I'm fourteen, and they havn't shown up if I have them, but you really don't know."

Ellie groaned.

"You're just confusing me, but fine."

We looked off a little ways away to see Pizlop and Ruby holding a conversation.

"Ruby's glad to see Pizlop agian." I said quietly, translating for her. "She's missed him."

Ellie looked distant.

"Pizlop's missed Ruby too." she whispered. "I know he seems all aloof and everything, but in reality, he was really torn up about you guys going away. So was I." she added, looking at me with misty eyes like she might start crying. "MacKenzie's really been getting on all of us since you've left. Oh, I know it's only been a few days." she said hurridly. "But she thinks she's scarred you off. Even Vivi's been getting all high-and-mighty."

"Sorry." I said. "I've missed you too. But look, Ellie, I just can't come back. Too much is happening over here. Naraku- that's the bad dude who messes with everybody's lives- has my mom. My father's going to be here any second, and my little sister is here somewhere."

"And you have a boyfriend." Ellie teased. I punched her.

"Do not!" I protested.

"Do so!" she insisted. "I've seen the way you and that Koga guy look at each other! He likes you and you like him!"

"Shut the hell up, Ells." I ordered. "Koga doesn't think of me like. . . like _that_." I fought a sob rising in my voice.

"Yeah, he does." Kebi said, slauntering over. "I saw you kiss him. He kissed back like the world was going to end that very minute. I _saw_ it. He _so_ likes you, Susan!" and for a minute, I saw that in a different life and a different time, Kebi could have been one of my girlfriends at school.

"_What?!_" Ellie gasped, shaking me. "You-you _kissed_ him?! Susan!! That's so. . . so. . . I don't even have a word for how awesome that is!"

I laughed.

Ellie! Stop shaking me!" She did. "Okay! I'll admit it! I kissed him!"

"And he kissed back?!"

"Totally." Kebi confirmed. "He's so into her it's not even funny."

"Shut up." I ordered, feeling the blush rise on my face.

"You _li-ike_ him!" Ellie teased.

"Fine! I like him!" I nearly shouted. "And from what you say, you're into Sesshomaru!"

Ellie didn't bat an eyelash.

"Yup. Dead on." she said. "Got a problem?"

I smiled.

"Nope. If I did, it'd be awful hypocritical of me, seing as I'm the product of when a Demon falls in love with a Human."

Kebi and Ellie laughed.

"Sure." Ellie snickered. "And would that be why you were denying you like Koga just a minute ago?"

"No. I was denying it because that's the instinctual thing to do." I said, rolling my eyes. Damn all of these inferences!

"Well-" Kebi began, but at that moment, _he_ came into the clearing.

* * * * *

Koga

* * * * *

He was wearing a skirt, despite the cold. His armor was like mine, completely covering his chest. His hair was long and black, flowing freely down his back. He looked strong, and you could definately tell that he worked out a lot. You could tell from the strong facial features and shape of the eyes that he was related to Susan. In fact, they looked a lot like each other.

Julian. The great founder of the Wolf-Demon Tribe. Father of Susan and some girl named Jenny. Husband to the Sorceress Taylor. Somehow I expected him to be. . . I don't know. . . more _headstrong._ Like the times I'd met him before. But he just stood there, staring at his eldest daughter with pleading eyes. Susan, for her part, swooned a bit and the Human girl who was named Ellie had to hold her arm gently so she didn't fall. For the first time I'd ever seen him, Julian looked unsure.

"S-Susan?" he asked as though worried about getting her name wrong.

Susan managed a shaky laugh.

"Who else were you expecting?" she asked. "George Bush?"

Julian, for his part, smiled back at Susan.

"Just like Taylor. . ." he murmered, shaking his head. "You're just like your mother. . ."

"Well." Susan said dryly. "Since I've been _living_ with my mother for the past few years, I'd _better_ act a bit like her."

"Susan. . ." Julian said, begging. "What can I say to make you believe that I didn't _want_ to leave you and your mother-"

"You mean me and my _pregnant_ mother, don't you?!" Susan demanded sharply. "Cuz' my mom was pregnant when you left!"

Julian looked shocked and hurt at the same time.

"Taylor. . ." he moaned, sinking down. "Was. . . was _pregnant?!"_

"_She_ didn't even know." Susan lamanated. "She was still under a month. But if you'd stuck around for another few weeks, she would have told you that she'd skipped her period. Guess it didn't _occur_ to you to check, did it?!"

Susan was furious. She was almost literaly steaming with anger. Her face was almost red, and her eyes were shooting daggers. She was getting some revenge for her mother. But at the same time, tears stream-lined down her face.

"So I guess you never knew that I have a little sister named _Jenifer!_ I guess you never knew that my little sister Jenny was _kidnaped _when she was four freaking years old! I guess you never knew that my last boyfriend used to beat the shit out of me since I wouldn't _sleep_ with him and I used to cry at night because you couldn't be there to get him off my back! I guess you never knew that _my mother spent half of her miserable life_ either glued to the computer _Googling you to try and track you down_ or leaving me home alone to go and look for you! And I guess you never knew that she was just kidnaped by Naraku and she's prabably fucking dead right about now! But I guess you never really cared, since you just walked out without even telling mom where in hell you were going! What happened?! A human suddenly not _good_ enough for you?! That why you came back here?! Huh?! Is that it?! To try and get the others to forgive you for leaving?!"

Julian burried his face in his hands, too ashamed to look at his daughter.

"I've spent _years_ cursing and hating myself for letting Jenny get kidnaped!" Susan was saying, the tears flowing even faster. "I've wanted to die every fucking day for letting some guy snatch my little sister away from me! And my mother's hated herself for not seeing sooner what my boyfriend was doing to me for _months_ since I didn't want to worry her! I was bruised and scared and frightened every day from Januanry to October because I didn't want to add more to her plate!" She collapsed, gasping for air. "But if you were there, things could have been different!" she continued in a sob. "Mom wouldn't be so messed up. You could have caught that guy who took Jenny away. You could have beaten the snot out of that guy who was smacking me!"

I think her tears frightened me more than anything. I could handle her terror, or anger and peppiness. But I flat out _could not_ handle Susan _crying!_ It was impossible! Like Naraku being nice, or man reaching the moon! It simply _did not_ happen! But here was the proof, sobbing gently in front of me. And here I was, unsure if I should hit her again, or hug her, or stay out of it or even take Susan's side. What would _Susan_ do if the positions were reversed? What would I want her to do, or would regret not having done later? The answer came to me in a snap.

_Ask for Julian's side._ Sure, Susan was pissed at him, and sure, it wasn't really my place, but if it was me, I would have died later, not knowing why my father left my mother and me.

"Susan." I murmered, sinking down next to her. "Suze, listen. Maybe we should hear your dad's side of things here. I mean, it's not really fair to keep jumping to conclusions like that."

Susan uttered a shuttering breath and turned to look at her father.

"Right." she said. "So. Start talking." she ordered, narrowing her eyes at Julian.

* * * * *

Julian

* * * * *

I had never expected Susan to be so old. Somehow I was still expecting the little Kindergarten girl that I had left behind. I still expected her to be five. But instead, she was an emotional teenage girl. I remembered my teens. Overwraught with complex emotions and then I had met Taylor. . .

"So. Start talking." Susan said, bringing me back to reality.

I sighed.

"How much do you already know?" I asked.

Susan's already narrow eyes narrowed even more.

"I know that you and my mom met with she was sixteen and a couple years later you two ran off to the present. And that you had me and mom was pregnant for Jenny when you took off without a word of goodbye." my daughter said.

I groaned.

"I didn't have time to say goodbye, Susan, please believe me. I heard that a demon named Naraku had come about and was causing havoc. I _did_ tell your mother that I loved her and might be back. But after I got back here, I learned that Naraku was stronger than I thought. Gods, the amount of people that he's killed so far!"

"You don't have to tell me twice." Koga muttered. "You heard about my comrades?" he added to me.

"Of course." I told him.

"Naraku?" Susan asked sharply. "That's the ass-hole Demon who stole Mom away! And Koga, didn't he kill all of those Wolf-Demons a while back? And I'm almost thinking he messed around with InuYasha and Kagome too!"

Koga nodded.

"Would make sense." I said grimly.

"Sooo." the girl from the present said, walking over to Susan. "This is your dad, Suze?"

"Yeah." Susan said. "This is Ellie." she told me.

"And I'm Kebi." the half-Tiger girl said from her perch on a tree-log.

I nodded, and vagely wondered if I should tell Susan about that promace I made a few years back while Taylor was still pregnant for her.

* * * * *

Susan

* * * * *

I could hardly miss the look my father (I guess he was okay, but he was a long way from 'Dad') was giving me.

"What?" I asked dully, wondering what this guy had up his sleve this time.

He shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh, it's nothing much. Just a promace I made a few years back." he said.

"About _me_, right?" I asked sharply. "Wha'd you do?!" I demanded suspiciously.

Julian looked uncomftorable.

"Well, it's just this thing. It hardly applies to you right now, since you're so young, but I _did_ make this promace to Koga's father when you were still in your mother's womb."

"And that would be. . .?" I asked.

If possible, he looked even more skeeved out.

"You see, Susan, my Koga's running the tribe I helped to found. He took charge just recently, so this isn't political or anything, but when I ran away with Taylor, Koga's father followed me. For a while. He eventually went back, but not before I and your mother had a talk with him. And we found out that his own mate had a son. Koga." he added, nodding at Koga. "We were actually old childhood friends, and we made a deal. He wouldn't tell the others where I went, but I had to do something in return."

"And that would be?" I repeated, dreading his answer but desperate to know.

He shifted his weight and took a breath.

"Well, it's that if we had a child, and it was a girl, then when she was old enough, she should marry Koga."

He said it simply. As though he told his daughter every day that she was promaced to the guy she already sort of liked. But I felt myself going into shock. My jaw dropped and my eyes widened. I covered up my mouth with both hands, and muttered:

"Oh, my. . ."

But I never finished the sentance, because for the second time that day, my eyes rolled up into my head and I fainted.

* * * * *

Koga

* * * * *

I caught Susan on her way down, although I felt like passing out myself. I liked Susan, I really did. I even thought it might be more than just liking her. And I guessed she felt the same way, or else she wouldn't have fainted like that. She would have started shouting that she wouldn't marry me in a thousand years or something like that.

Ellie, Ruby and Kebi were on their feet and shouting something about how Julian shouldn't have done that to Susan before he even knew what sex the baby was going to be, or even if Taylor would get pregnant at all. Julian didn't seem to mind, and actually agreed with their comments.

"I know I shouldn't have done it, but I was desperate!" he was saying.

I looked down at the limp form of the girl I was betrothed to. I didn't much mind the thought of marrying her. In fact, I kind of liked it. In her own way, Susan was beautiful. And not only that, she was smart and happy and _individual_. But, and there was that big _but_, I didn't think she would like to marry me.

Full-blooded Wolf-Demons are married off all the time, and aranged marrages are often part of our daily lives. I had never been subjected to it, and I was grateful for that. But, judging from what Susan had told me before, there were hardly any forced marrages in her time and country, besides the cults that sometimes sprang up. Hypothetically, she was close to my age, but in reality, I was centuries older than her. I didn't realize that I'd even said that out loud until I saw Kebi, Ellie, Julian, Pizlop, and Ruby all nodding their heads in agreement.

"That's true." Kebi said. "But she's a special kind of Half-Demon. She can instinctually change her aging rate to match that of the one she loves." she smirked. "And I'm pretty sure that she loves you a whole lot." she added.

I ignored the last comment.

_That's right. _I thought. _I've heard of that kind of thing happening when I Demon mates with somebody who has magic and they have a kid. I guess Susan is one of those legendary babies._

I glared around the clearing and then sighed.

"Well. . ." I said, shaking my head. "I guess we'd better wake her up."

Hakkaku nodded and smacked her face. I groaned.

"I meant with water or putting her head between her knees." I told him as Susan moaned.

"Umm." she was saying. "NO! I DON'T WANT TO GO TO GYM CLASS!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" Then she woke up fully, blushing this really pretty scarlet. "Oh. Hiya, everybody. Did I pass out again? I've got to stop doing that, huh?" She was nervous, and I guessed it was because she'd remembered why she fainted in the first place.

"So-o." She said. "Ahm. . . Uh. . .yeah. . . That was freaky." She looked at me. "It didn't happen, right? My dad did _not_ marry me off before I was even born, _right?!"_

I shook my head.

"Yeah. It did happen." I told her.

"This is insane!" Ellie blurted out. "She's fourteen! She shouldn't be getting married off just like that!"

She stalked out of the clearing with Pizlop in her arms, going toward Sesshomaru's scent. Kebi followed her, and so did Ruby and Julian, who was hauling Hakkaku and Ginta after him. Litterally.

Susan looked down and bit her thumb with her upper teeth.

"So, um. . ." she mumbled, not looking at me.

I sighed softly and said gently:

"Look, I'm okay with this if you are, but I don't think anybody's going to force you to. . . you know. . . _marry_ me."

Susan looked up at me.

"Seriously?" she asked, her eyes pleading with me.

"Yeah. So we're just going to say no, then? I'll go and tell your dad-"

"_No_!" Susan gasped, grabbing my arm. "Just hear me out, alright?"

I nodded.

"The reason I passed out wasn't because I was. . . you know. . . _upset_. Actually, I was damn well pleased. _I_ don't mind this thing, either. I just thought you would be pissed off. Actually," she blushed scarlet again. "I really like you. And I, um, well, I-I sorta. . ." she trailed off, looking down again.

"So, you don't. . . I mean. . ." I couldn't keep the joy out of my voice. "You actually _want_ to go through with that stupid promace?"

"Well. . .yeah, I guess." Susan said, hugging herself. "It's just. . . like. . . I mean, it might have. . . have happened anyways, right?"

I nodded. It almost definatly would have happened.

"Yeah." I said. "Kinda' fast, but yeah."

I saw tears starting to form in Susan's eyes.

"Oh, Gods, don't cry again!" I blurted, pulling her close. "I don't think I can handle it!"

"Sorry." she whispered, pushing back the tears and pressing herself into the cold armor on my chest. But she seemed to like it, somehow, and pressed even harder. I was actually enjoying myself.

And then, unable to restrain myself, I looked down at her and pressed my lips against her hair. She let out a small gasp and stiffened just for a millisecond. I cupped her chin in my hand and raised her head, looking deep into her eyes. Then I brought my lips down on hers, feeling the intensity from the both of us as she kissed back.

"But hey," I whispered when we broke apart. "I want to know what happened to you. The whole story."

Susan bit her lip, but looked up at me with determined eyes.

"Alright." she agreed. "I'll tell you everything."

**End Chapter**

Mua-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!! I leave you at a cliff-hanger until the next chapter! I'm so Evil!! Mua-ha-ha-ha-ha-HA!!!!

Anyways, I got a little more into Kebi and Ellie, and you finally get to meet Julian! Houray for you! I guess that was a shocking ending to the chapter, since you _definately_ did not see that coming, but I thought it'd be awesome!

Great! So I'm engaged to Koga! And there's more to come!

IN THE NEXT CHAPTER:

Because Ellie is based on my friend Kayla, who has an awesome crush on Sesshomaru (Sorry, Sesshy fans, I just don't see it.), I'm going to be putting in some more Ellie/Sesshomaru where Ellie's not the only one doing the gawking. . .

Also, as I'm sure you're dying to know the whole story, I'm going to put in the whole story of what's happened to me since my dad left, complete with an un-named, abusive ex-boyfriend, a mom who just can't let go of the past, a kidnapped little sister, and a Crazy Cat Lady who doesn't know when she's met her match in a certain, Half-Wolf-Demon girl! And let's not forget about Kebi, the mysterous, yet somehow cool, Half-Tiger-Demon girl! We get to read her whole story, since I myself am dying to know what happened in her family! I've give up planning this out, and am instead just doing it as I go along. I'm never sure what exactly is going to happen, but it's fun to work it out with Kayla and Casey, who Ellie and Kebi are based on!

No, none of this has happened to me


	5. Loose Ends to Tie Up

* * * * *

Koga

* * * * *

Full-blooded Wolf-Demons are married off all the time, and aranged marrages are often part of our daily lives. I had never been subjected to it, and I was grateful for that. But, judging from what Susan had told me before, there were hardly any forced marrages in her time and country, besides the cults that sometimes sprang up. Hypothetically, she was close to my age, but in reality, I was centuries older than her. I didn't realize that I'd even said that out loud until I saw Kebi, Ellie, Julian, Pizlop, and Ruby all nodding their heads in agreement.

"That's true." Kebi said. "But she's a special kind of Half-Demon. She can instinctually change her aging rate to match that of the one she loves." she smirked. "And I'm pretty sure that she loves you a whole lot." she added.

I ignored the last comment.

_That's right. _I thought. _I've heard of that kind of thing happening when I Demon mates with somebody who has magic and they have a kid. I guess Susan is one of those legendary babies._

I glared around the clearing and then sighed.

"Well. . ." I said, shaking my head. "I guess we'd better wake her up."

Hakkaku nodded and smacked her face. I groaned.

"I meant with water or putting her head between her knees." I told him as Susan moaned.

"Umm." she was saying. "NO! I DON'T WANT TO GO TO GYM CLASS!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" Then she woke up fully, blushing this really pretty scarlet. "Oh. Hiya, everybody. Did I pass out again? I've got to stop doing that, huh?" She was nervous, and I guessed it was because she'd remembered why she fainted in the first place.

"So-o." She said. "Ahm. . . Uh. . .yeah. . . That was freaky." She looked at me. "It didn't happen, right? My dad did _not_ marry me off before I was even born, _right?!"_

I shook my head.

"Yeah. It did happen." I told her.

"This is insane!" Ellie blurted out. "She's fourteen! She shouldn't be getting married off just like that!"

She stalked out of the clearing with Pizlop in her arms, going toward Sesshomaru's scent. Kebi followed her, and so did Ruby and Julian, who was hauling Hakkaku and Ginta after him. Litterally.

Susan looked down and bit her thumb with her upper teeth.

"So, um. . ." she mumbled, not looking at me.

I sighed softly and said gently:

"Look, I'm okay with this if you are, but I don't think anybody's going to force you to. . . you know. . . _marry_ me."

Susan looked up at me.

"Seriously?" she asked, her eyes pleading with me.

"Yeah. So we're just going to say no, then? I'll go and tell your dad-"

"_No_!" Susan gasped, grabbing my arm. "Just hear me out, alright?"

I nodded.

"The reason I passed out wasn't because I was. . . you know. . . _upset_. Actually, I was damn well pleased. _I_ don't mind this thing, either. I just thought you would be pissed off. Actually," she blushed scarlet again. "I really like you. And I, um, well, I-I sorta. . ." she trailed off, looking down again.

"So, you don't. . . I mean. . ." I couldn't keep the joy out of my voice. "You actually _want_ to go through with that stupid promise?"

"Well. . .yeah, I guess." Susan said, hugging herself. "It's just. . . like. . . I mean, it might have. . . have happened anyways, right?"

I nodded. It almost definatly would have happened.

"Yeah." I said. "Kinda' fast, but yeah."

I saw tears starting to form in Susan's eyes.

"Oh, Gods, don't cry again!" I blurted, pulling her close. "I don't think I can handle it!"

"Sorry." she whispered, pushing back the tears and pressing herself into the cold armor on my chest. But she seemed to like it, somehow, and pressed even harder. I was actually enjoying myself.

And then, unable to restrain myself, I looked down at her and pressed my lips against her hair. She let out a small gasp and stiffened just for a millisecond. I cupped her chin in my hand and raised her head, looking deep into her eyes. Then I brought my lips down on hers, feeling the intensity from the both of us as she kissed back.

"But hey," I whispered when we broke apart. "I want to know what happened to you. The whole story."

Susan bit her lip, but looked up at me with determined eyes.

"Alright." she agreed. "I'll tell you everything."

* * * * *

Ellie

* * * * *

I came back into the clearing in time to hear the rest of Susan and Koga's conversation.

So. I would finally get to find out Susan's whole story.

Our whole group back home had always wondered about our friend's life, and more than once, Derik and Heidi had asked her what had happened to her, but she just played mum with us. Until now. And suddenly, I didn't want to know. From the look on Susan's face, it had been awful. But I _had_ to know or I would go insane.

Koga gently wrapped his arm around Susan and pulled her in close. She put her head on his shoulder for a second and sighed. Then she grimaced and pulled her head up and looked around at all of us.

"Right." She sighed. "So I guess I have an audience now?"

I had to smile. Even when she was so wired she could make jokes. And let me tell you, I havn't seen Susan so wired since she broke up with that jack-ass boyfriend of hers who used her as a mop on his kitchen floor.

"Before I start. . ." Susan said. "You guys should know something." She glanced behind me and smiled. "Me and Kebi are old friends. We met years ago at my house, but she and her parents and siblings left years ago."

"Back to this time." Kebi said. I jumped. I hadn't heard the others come back. "There's a time portal in my own house. My _summer_ house."

Susan frowned.

"Really? You never told me that." She said, sounding a little offended.

"My step-father made me swear never to tell or he's skin me alive and use my pelt as a carpet." Kebi told her, shuddering. "And I wouldn't have put it past him, either."

Susan's mouth dropped open.

"We're hearing your story after mine, got it?"

"So are you going to talk or not?" Koga asked my friend, his arm still wrapped around her.

Susan nodded, her eyes clouding over.

"It all began when I was a kid." She began.

* * * * *

Susan's Story

* * * * *

_It all began when I was a kid._

_I had a pretty normal childhood, I guess. Well, not really. I was always pretty freaky, but you know, normal for a Half-Demon._

_As long as I can remember, the Crazy Cat Lady across the street hated us because of her family and everything. But that never bugged me all too much. It was annoying, but never dangerous. She was so damn desperate to get us out she would call the cops on me if I was walking home from school and she could hear me talking to somebody or singing along to my music. Said I was 'disturbing the peace' or something like that._

_So anyway, after my dad left, my mom was pregnant for Jenny. Nobody knew for another couple weeks that she was knocked up, and after she skipped her period, she thought it was stress. After a couple months, though, she realized she was indeed pregnant, and started to start depending on me even more, even thought I was only about five years old at the time._

_After Jenny was born and she'd recovered enough, Mom started looking for my dad. Nothing turned up, and I was freaked out. My daddy was gone, my mommy had just given me a baby sister, and I was pretty much looking after myself._

_After about a year, though, Mom gave up and started to pay more attention to her daughters. And I was pretty happy. But then, when I was nine, Jenny was four, and we were at that outdoor market with my mom. Like I said, I was holding Jenny's hand, and was looking at some pretty hand-made dolls and thinking I would get the one in the lacy pink dress for my sister and the one with the blond curls for myself when I felt her hand ripped out of mine and heard her screaming. Some guy was running off with her. Me and my mom ran after them but we never could catch them. Even that Amber Alert the police raised didn't do anything for us._

_Afterwards, my mom really lost it. She started drinking and smoking a lot and was practically glued to her laptop. She was so depressed she could hardly get up in the morning to go to work. I was in fifth grade but had to walk myself to school and if it wasn't for the fact that I had taught myself to hunt rabbits with my Demonic powers after school I wouldn't have eaten some days._

_Over the years, my mom dropped the cigarettes, and the alcohol seriously went down, but she never was the same. She was so clumsy, always dropping plates and anything else, and she seemed to be so disconnected from anything else._

_I guess that was why I got involved with that guy. I was thirteen and desperately lonely. My only friends were Ellie, Tyler and Taylor. I hadn't met Derik or Heidi yet, and I didn't want to bother the twins and Ellie was brainless. So I started seeing some guy who gave me a name that turned out to be phony in January. It was fine for a couple of months, and I trusted the guy. But then he started to slap me since I wouldn't let the guy in my pants. I let it go on until October when he slammed me into the kitchen floor and kicked me a few times. He snapped my arm and I ended it with him the next day. My mom asked me at the hospital about it, and I fessed up. She lost it and put a law suit on the guy. He got put in prison for aggravated assault attempted murder, and stalking me._

_I met Derik and Heidi a few months later, and I turned fourteen in November. I fell through the well a couple weeks ago, at the start of December._

* * * * *

Kebi

* * * * *

Her story was incredible and unbelievable. But it was no stranger than mine. Didn't stop me from saying it, though.

"You're lying." I said, rolling my eyes.

"Am not!" Susan said, her eyes flashing. "So what's your story, Kebi? After you left? What happened to you?"

I felt myself stiffen.

"Mind your own fucking business." I muttered, glaring at Susan.

Susan smirked.

"You see, Kebi, the thing is, you just _proved _to me that there's something up, or else you wouldn't have just told me that."

I glared at the annoying girl again, and, much to my annoyance, she still gave me that self-satisfied smirk.

"I'm not giving up." she told me stubbornly. "I just told you my story, so fess up and tell me yours!"

I felt my bottom lip quiver. Oh, gods, not now!

"No." I said shortly.

Susan's eyes narrowed, and I knew the subject wasn't over, but she let it slide and looked away.

"So-o-o" Ellie squealed. "You and Koga are getting married?!"

"Oh! Um, yeah, I guess so."

"Eeeee! You are _so_ letting me and Kebi plan the wedding, girl!"

"Wedding? Oh, god! My mother!"

"Ohhh, she'll be _so_ excited!"

"No! I mean I have to find my mom so she can _go_ to this stupid wedding thing!"

That shut Ellie right up.

"Don't worry." Koga, who had started blushing, said gently, putting a hand on Susan's shoulder. "We'll find her, I swear it!"

Susan nodded.

"I hope you're right." she whispered, taking his hand.

* * * * *

Ellie

* * * * *

I guess it wasn't the best time, but I couldn't help but get excited at my best friend getting hitched! I could already see it! Tons of flowers. Roses and daisies and of course lilies, since Susan's name means lily. Irises too, since Susan loved irises.

Sure, I hadn't liked the idea of her getting married at fourteen much before, but now I was all over it! It would be a sweet thing. Oh, but I couldn't use too many flowers. That would be bad for Susan and Koga and all of the other demons.

And the cake! Tons of layers, alternating chocolate and vanilla.

Speaking of weddings. . .

I couldn't help but think of a certain, uber-hot Dog-Demon. Sesshomaru, now there was a thought. Hot. Cool. Hair. Ears. The fluffy thing. . .

I was drawn to the dude. I didn't know why, but I was. Maybe it was some weird attraction thing that Demons held. I mean, Susan's mom, Susan herself, Kebi's dad, and now me. But then again, maybe it was just weird people. I talk to a penguin, Susan's mother was a sorceress, Susan is a little crazy (I mean, just look at the way the girl dresses for one thing!), and Kebi's father. . . well, nobody knew.

"Ellie? Ellie! Hel-lo, reality to Ellie!" Susan was saying waving her hand in front of Ellie's face.

"Huh? Wha?" Ellie said, snapping back.

"You were spacing." Kebi said, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. With Kebi, it looked like a super model with tiger ears was getting annoyed at Ellie.

"Oh. Sorry, guys."

"Forget about it." Susan said. I glanced around the clearing and realized the guys hadn't said anything to us since Susan's story. Now I looked over and saw Koga holding a heated conversation with Julian with Hakkaku and Ginta cowering by each other.

Susan, who noticed my gaze, rolled her eyes exasperatedly.

"They're talking about how to kill Naraku. Honestly, I don't even know why they're bothering. We can't do anything without InuYasha and the others backing us up."

I felt my brow crinkle up.

"Who's InuYasha?" I asked.

"Sesshomaru's half brother." Susan said, puzzled. "He's a half-Demon like me."

My eyes widened at the mention of Sesshomaru's name. Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru. It was like a poem. Sesshomaru.

"What's up with you?" Kebi asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Nothing." I said, my face heating up.

"Thinking about Sesshomaru?" Susan asked in her bitchiest voice.

"Ma-ybe." I said, drawing the word out and batting my eye lashes.

The girls laughed.

"What's so funny?" Koga asked, swaggering over and leaning up against a tree. I had to stifle a laugh. Susan was practically drooling!

Kebi, however, wasn't as kind. As soon as she saw Susan's expression, she burst out in laughter. Koga frowned, and Susan glared at her and blushed at the same time.

"Nothing is funny." I said, my eyes daring Kebi to say anything.

"Whatever." Koga said, rolling his eyes. "I'm going hunting. Any of you girls want to come with me?" he asked. Although the question was addressed at all of us, he was looking directly at Susan. I smiled. He was just trying to be polite was all.

"Yeah, I think I will." Susan said appreciatively, pushing herself to her feet and smiling.

"You two lovebirds watch out for boars." Kebi snorted.

"Watch out or we may develop a taste for tigers." Susan shot back, slipping her hand into Koga's and taking off running.

* * * * *

Susan

* * * * *

"Well, you sure have some weird friends." Koga told me as we ran.

"Tell me about it." I groaned, feeling his grip on my hand tighten. "You don't really have to hunt, do you?" I asked sneakily.

Koga laughed.

"No chance. I just had to get away from those loons."

I nodded.

"I get ya'." I said. After a few minutes, I said: "Koga, where are we going?"

He smiled down at me.

"It's a surprise. Close your eyes." he told me, scooping me up bridal-style and _whoosh_ing off, just giving me enough time to close my eyes like he told me to.

After what seemed like forever, Koga stopped running, laughed at the scrunched-up look on my face, and gently set me down on my feet.

"You can look now." he said, wrapping his arm around my waist. I stiffened a bit at his touch, but then I remembered that this was _Koga_. I _trusted _him. So I forced my body to relax, telling myself that I loved Koga. That he would never touch me if I told him to stop.

And then I opened my eyes.

I gasped.

"Pretty, isn't it?" Koga whispered to me.

I could only nod and stare at the waterfall, rushing down the sheer cliff, spraying a cloud of mist over the landscape. And around the waterfall were field of colorful flowers, releasing their sweet smell in the air, strong enough for me and Koga to smell, but not so much they were overpowering.

"Wow!" I managed to whisper. "It. . . It's amazing!"

Koga nodded and smiled down at me.

"Isn't it? I thought you'd like it." he said triumphantly.

"Yeah." I breathed, leaning up against him. "But like isn't nearly strong enough! It's more like I love it! It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen! It's like. . . like. . ." I didn't even have words for it. But I loved it. I absolutely loved it.

Then Koga got a sneaky look on his face. He glanced down at me, grinning like some kid with his first water gun.

"Koga," I said nervously, taking a step back. "What're you thinking?"

"Nothing." he said innocently. But his eyes told a different story.

"Sure you're not." I said sarcastically.

He grinned and picked me up again.

"Koga!" I said sharply, wiggling around. "What're you doing?!"

He laughed and ran toward the pool.

"Koga, don't you dare!" I shrieked, struggling more than ever.

"Just hang on!" he told me, reaching the water's edge and leaping.

Suddenly, the fact that I was getting dunked didn't matter much to me. I screamed as the water rushed up to greet us, and I was holding onto Koga so tightly I nearly throttled the guy.

And then the warm water rushed up around my, making my clothes billow out around my body. My hair came loose and the elastic floated away. It was funny. My hair was still in it's braid, but it was coming undone very quickly.

We came up spluttering, gasping and blinking water out of my eyes.

For a second, I wanted to hit Koga, but then I started laughing. I splashed water at Koga's face, and he responded by dunking me again. I laughed again, running my fingers through my hair and wiping my face down. But then I realized that, soaked from head to toe and in the arms of the boy of my dreams, it was far too late to worry about my appearance.

Koga, however, laughed and carried me over to the waterfall.

"Now be good." he warned, setting me down on some rocks while the water pounded down on my head and sitting down next to me. Still grinning, I tilted my head back and let the water run down my face and onto my chest.

When I pulled my head back into a normal position, I saw Koga watching me. Not saying anything, he was just watching me.

"What?" I asked, still smiling.

"I was just thinking. . ." he said, still looking at me with a curious expression on his face. "You know what happened earlier? When you had just come out of Mt. Hakurai?"

I thought back and remembered the kiss. I blushed and felt a slow smile creep across my face.

"Yeah, I think so. What about it?"

"I was thinking. . ." he repeated. "And I was wondering. . . if you wanted to do it again. . ."

I let out a millisecond long gasp and covered up my mouth with one hand for all of one and a half seconds. Then, looking back at him, I nodded.

"Okay." I said, inching toward him. I looked up at the tall boy sitting next to me, and he glanced down at me. I knew I loved him. I always had loved Koga. But it was a shock admitting it to myself. Realizing that it wasn't just some teenage angst or whatever. Knowing that I was going to marry him someday.

Gently, he rose his hand up to my shoulder and slid it to where the muscles of my shoulder and neck joined. I tried to relax my tense muscles, but it didn't work out too well. So I just leaned in and put my face an inch away from his. I could smell his breath on my face. Some kind of meat somehow mixed with mint. I licked my lips. Delicious.

My body was leaning foreword of it's own accord without any orders from my brain. All of a sudden, Koga's hand slipped up my neck, tangling in my wet hair and pulling me foreword. My lips met his. At first my eyes widened, but then, enjoying the sensation, I closed my eyes and landed my hands on his back and pulled him in closer. Our tongues met and intertwined inside our mouths.

I moaned. This was definitely better than Bankotsu kissing me! Not only because my lips didn't hurt from the bruising force, but because I could return the kiss full force. Amazing.

* * * * *

Koga

* * * * *

I had to be careful. It was too easy to loose myself when I was with Susan and to forget that she wasn't a full demon. Despite what she would have liked to believe, she wasn't as indestructible as she thought, and I could all too easily hurt her. The Jewel Shards in my legs, which not only increased my speed and leg strength but enhanced my overall power as well, weren't helping matters any.

I was controlling myself pretty well until Susan pulled me in and my tongue snaked into her mouth. It felt like I was doing a damn good job, but then I felt a slight gasp and Susan bit down on her own tongue and pulled away a couple millimeters.

_Dammit._ I thought. I'd pulled her hair.

"Sorry." I murmured, stroking her arm soothingly.

"Forget about it." she answered, coming back onto me. "And quit holding back." she ordered in my mouth.

So I did. I kissed that girl as hard as I could, and she kissed back, her wet body pushing up against mine. Then, of course, we toppled over into the water.

"Oh!" Susan gasped, surfacing and gasping a little. "Oh! Wow!"

"Yeah," I agreed, swimming over to the girl who was treading water that was a couple inches over even my head. "That was amazing! Where did you learn to kiss like that?"

"Like what?" she asked, blinking her eyes.

"Like. . .I don't even know. But like. . . as good as you did?" I said lamely.

Susan giggled while I scooped her up and brought her over to shallower water.

"I read a lot." she said, cuddling up to me. "I was reading really horny stuff last year. You pick up a couple things."

I nodded even thought I didn't really get it.

But then I smelled the air and growled with hatred.

"What's wrong?" Susan asked, looking up at me from her position in my arms.

"Bankotsu." I growled. "He's here."

"What?!" Susan gasped, pushing a little closer to me. "But-how-why-?"

"Don't know. Wait a minute. He's kissed you right?"

"Yeah." Susan said, grimacing at the memory.

"You didn't lead him on at all, did you? Kiss him back or something?"

"I don't think. . . Oh, shit." she moaned. "I think I might have. It was my first kiss, and I think I might have moaned a bit. Dammit! I'm an idiot! He made me wrap my legs around his waist, and I got scarred that he would drop me on accident so I squeezed my legs! Damn!"

"Couldn't be helped." I said, even though I was nearly seething that Bankotsu would _dare_ touch Susan at all, much less force her to wrap her legs around him. _I'll kill the bastard._ I thought furiously. Out loud, I shouted:

"Come out here, you coward!"

Bankotsu emerged from the forest, a look of intense hatred, clearly wishing me a slow, painful death on his face. I set Susan down on the ground and stepped in front of her, growling at Bankotsu from deep within my throat.

"Koga, watch out." Susan whispered. "The other one's here. The Gay dude."

I nodded but otherwise ignored everything but my adversary.

"You'd better stay away from her." Bankotsu hissed, tightening his hold on his halberd.

"I could say the same to you." I answered, cracking my neck.

"She deserves way better than some pathetic Wolf-Demon." he growled, glaring daggers at me.

"Funny." I shot back at him. "But I was under the impression that she should have someone other than some filthy specter like yourself."

Susan whimpered, and I faintly smelled her blood. Glancing over at her, I saw that she'd been biting her lower lip and broken the skin. Her eyes were filled with tears threatening to overflow at any second. Bankotsu also looked over at her, and his gaze softened the slightest bit.

"Susan," he said to her, his voice commanding. "Come over here. Ditch that Wolf-Boy, alright?"

Susan gasped and the tears fell down her cheeks. She covered her mouth, I guess so we couldn't see her trembling lips.

"Suze," I said as gently as I could. "Calm down."

"Susan! Get the hell away from him! I'll kill him anyway! Cut the tears and CHOOSE ALREADY!!"

"I-I-I c-c-can't. . ." she choked out.

Her tears were now mingling with the blood that had been smeared around her mouth by her hand, creating a very interesting smell. I couldn't stand seeing her so upset. It was so. . . so. . . torturous. Of course, I could see what her problem was. She couldn't risk making Bankotsu mad, but she also didn't want to hurt me. Seeming to loose patience, Bankotsu stuck his halberd in the ground.

"Jakotsu!" he called. "Come here."

And then the guy who thought he was a girl stepped out, pulling a blond curly-q girl with eyes identical to Susan's by the arm. This girl was crying like Susan. And the I heard Susan stop breathing. I looked over to her, and her hands had dropped to her sides. She'd licked the blood off her face, but her mouth was open in a prefect "O" shape and her eyes were as wide as dinner plates. She took a shuddering breath and breathed out:

"Jenny."

* * * * *

Susan

* * * * *

"Jenny." I whispered, seeing Jakotsu haul my little sister along behind him. "Jenny. Oh, my God, Jenny."

It was like a dream come true, but also a nightmare. You see, I'd wanted to see my sister for years. But I didn't want her to be dragged into this whole affair. It wasn't her problem. It was (mostly) mine.

Something else was nagging at me, too.

What was Jenny doing in the Feudal Era of Japan? Had her kidnapper from so many years ago dragged her here?

"So she _is_ you sister." Bankotsu said smugly. "I thought as much. So, Susan, it seems you have a choice here. You either go with me and I let your sister go, or you go with Koga, and, well, you get the picture."

I felt my mouth drop open even more. The bastard!

* * * * *

Jakotsu

* * * * *

I hated this. Susan was somebody who I could stand. I liked her. She was funny and she had cool friends. I _did _like that Tyler kid she said she could hook me up with, and I didn't want to hurt her.

Yet here I was, dragging her little sister and going along with Bankotsu when he said that he'd kill the kid if Susan wouldn't be with him. It was sick beyond all reason. From what I knew, Susan hadn't even seen the little kid in years. She had tears running down her face and it looked like she was going to pass out.

The little girl, Jenny, was crying too.

"Susan!" she was sobbing, trying to pull away from me to get to her sister. "Sis!"

"Cut it out." I said without feeling, giving her a yank back. I couldn't show any emotion, even though I so desperately wanted to just let the kid go. But Bankotsu would have me dead in five seconds if I even hinted that I was going to walk away from this. Me and Renkotsu were his only companions left, other than the Banryu, and as it turned out, Renkotsu was a traitor.

Just then, the kid bit down on my arm and stomped on my foot, making me cry out and release her.

_Clever._ I thought as she ran at full speed to Susan while I pretended to nurse my injured arm. She'd bitten hard and had actually drawn blood. _This is great. Now Bankotsu can't blame me._

"Susan!" she sobbed as Susan hugged her tightly. "Susan! I've missed you so much!"

"I know, Jenny." Susan whispered, looking like she would never let go. "I missed you too. I'm so sorry. It was all my fault. All of this has been because of me. I'm so sorry."

It was sweet really. Bankotsu looked like he was going to kill somebody, but Koga spoke up right then and there.

"If you even try to hurt either of them, I will kill you on the spot."

Furious, Bankotsu stormed away.

We had no way of knowing that in a few hours, I was going to be dead again, along with Bankotsu and Renkotsu. We didn't know that, soon after InuYasha killed Bankotsu, Koga would come very close to dying. All I knew was that Bankotsu was pissed.

* * * * *

One Year Later

* * * * *

Susan

* * * * *

Despite everything, I cried when I learned that Bankotsu and Jakotsu were dead. It was insane, since when it all boiled down to it, I hated Bankotsu with every fiber of my being. But I was sad to say goodbye.

When I arrived at the crumbling base of Mt. Hakurei soon after what I would later learn was just half an hour after Bankotsu died, and found out that Koga was being killed by Naraku, I became so blood-thirsty that Kagome thought I was reverting to my full-demon state, which has only happened once in my entire life.

But Koga survived.

I survived.

Jenny survived.

Even Inu-No-Baka survived, which kinda' put a damper on my happiness after all the rude stuff he'd said to me.

As it turned out, my mother had been at Mt. Hakurei, being forced to work with the living Buddha, St. Hakushin to create the sacred barrier. I cried again when I saw her, being carried out of the capsizing mountain on InuYasha's back (so I guess I can't despise him too much). She cried when she found me, and again when she saw Jenny. When she saw my father it seemed that she was beyond tears. She just reached up and felt his face, years of pain and depression visible in her clear blue eyes. Then she'd collapsed in his arms, with tightly and murmuring that she loved him a thousand times.

And then, what seemed like ages since InuYasha finished off the Band of Seven, we killed Naraku. But, of course, things couldn't stay quiet for long.

Because there was still a marriage to plan, as Ellie, now joined with Jenny, Kagome, and even Kebi, constantly reminded me.

Finally, after many encouragements, eye rolls, fake-coughed "marry Koga"'s, and finally, flat out death threats, I went up to Koga and asked, blushing and stuttering the whole way, if he still wanted to marry me. All he did was kiss me like the world was coming to the end.

The wedding itself, which was so much less hectic in the Feudal Era than in the present (although that might have been because Ellie had flat out told me that if I did anything other than make a guest list she would strangle me) was beautiful. Ellie, after much argument, had traveled back to the present time and told Derik, Tyler, Taylor, and Heidi about everything that had happened since I went missing. Needless to say, they were with her up until "So, first off, she's a Half-Demon who's really supposed to be in the Feudal Era of Japan. Oh, and somehow we can all understand each other." At that, if I'm to understand correctly, Derik started shaking her violently, Heidi demanded to know who she really was, and Tyler and Taylor both just stared.

Then she forced them to follow my actions, jump down the well, and come to my wedding. Once he found out I was engaged, Derik, who was very overprotective of me, started shouting profanities at Koga, shouted in as many ways possible at me that I was very clearly insane, at my parents for arranging the thing in the first place, at Jenny for trying to calm him down, at Ellie and Kebi for allowing it, at the twins for not backing him up, at the well for existing, and at a tree just for being in his way as he stormed off. Needless to say, we had to tie him down and duct-tape his mouth shut until I said "I do."

It was the best day of my life. My best friends were bride's maids, Taylor, Ellie, Heidi, and Kebi all dressed in some kind of purple frock, with Jenny as my junior bride's maid. We'd gotten Rin to be the flower girl, and Hakkaku and Ginta had gotten into a fight over who got to be Koga's best man. Hakkaku won. Ginta had a broken arm. My best man was Derik, who was tied to the chair. The twins got to design the damn dresses.

But something was still bugging me. Kebi's story. It was when we were dancing and Kebi was a little tipsy from all the champagne that she'd drunk that she'd finally spilled to me and my conveniently placed camcorder.

"It was after I left that the trouble began." she said while I tried to keep her from drinking another glass. "My mom re-married and this time it was a human. He had a son, who I hated. My little sister hated both of them, just like I did. But it was all tolerable until Naraku came. He killed my step-father Aumun, and brother, Brom first, and then he turned on us girls. My mom screamed at us to run. We did, but Alexandria tripped and Naraku killed her. My mother was still yelling for me to beat it, and I managed to get out of Egypt and to the coast of Europe. I rested there for a few days and hitched a boat ride to America. From there it was easy to locate my old house and go through the this time."

I sighed. The I hugged her, told her that it was alright, and went to dance with Koga. About half-way through the song, I looked around at everybody. My parents were dancing together, and so were Heidi and Derik, who we'd let loose after Koga and I were pronounced man and wife, Kagome and InuYasha (_Don't _ask how _he_ got invited)_,_ Miroku and Sango, Rin and Kohaku (Sango's kid brother) and Sesshomaru and Ellie. Then, like I'd wanted him to do for the last year or so, Sesshomaru leaned down and kissed Ellie. I could just see a relationship forming here.

Smiling, I turned back to Koga, who was mine forever now, and leaned up against his chest.

"You look great." he whispered to me.

"Ug. I can't believe that Ellie made me wear white." I sighed. Though I was getting over the goth thing, I still wasn't too fond of pure white.

"You'll get to change soon." Koga said, giving me a perverted smile.

"Get your mind out of the gut. . . Oh, never mind." I said, unable to get my mind off of what was going to happen that night any more than Koga could.

Koga winked at me.

"Ellie showed me something called a magazine." he said. "I think the title was Cosmopolitan?"

"Cosmo?!" I gasped, having read it in secret myself sometimes. "She didn't!"

"She did." he chuckled.

"Alright. I was going to kill her over the dress. Now I've upped it to torture before I kill her." I vowed.

Koga laughed.

"Would it help her chances of surviving any if I said that I was sorry?"

"For what?" I snorted. "Cosmo is tame compared to what I've read before. It's just the fact that she was showing that stuff my _my_ man."

Koga laughed again and kissed me deeply.

And I knew then that my life was perfect.

I was with the man I loved.

I had my family back.

My friends didn't think I was a freak.

And in a couple years, I would have a little baby girl. Derik would go on another rant, but he wouldn't ever dare to touch my little, still developing then Tessa.

* * * * *

**End Chapter**

* * * * *

**End Story**

* * * * *

I am so sorry that it took my so long to update! I got busy with the holidays and everything. But anyways, I got everybody satisfied. At least, my friends should be satisfied or I'll set Koga on them.

So, death threats to my complaining friends aside, this was one of my best fanfics I've ever done. I'm sure that by now you're wondering about this Tessa girl, and let me assure you, as soon as I get the time, I'll make a story about Tessa. I have the idea in my head. I just need a few hours a day to make the first chapter.

In case you're wondering, Ellie _does_ end up with Sesshomaru, Rin with Kohaku, InuYasha with Kagome, Miroku with Sango, and Derik with Heidi. I wasn't sure if it was too clear.

Please tell me what you think of this! I'm pretty sure it's good, but just tell me so I know what to do for little Tessa, alright?

(No, I am NOT pregnant, I have never had a baby, sex, or even kissed a guy before. I just read a lot and have an overly-active imagination.)


End file.
